From a Batangas Mountain Choir to Five Golds in Bali: The TMM Singers

The Transfiguration Music Ministry Singers walked into the 15th Bali International Choir Festival as barrio kids from the foot of Mt. Batulao. They walked out with two winner titles and five gold medals. This is how 33 young Filipinos from Nasugbu, Batangas turned a church choir with no budget into champions on an international stage, and why they stopped in Singapore on the way.

The festival ran from 26 to 31 July 2026 in Bali, organised by the Bandung Choral Society and counted among the biggest choral gatherings in Asia. Choirs from across the region come to compete, share stages, and sing on the beach together. The TMM Singers went under conductor Sir Nick Infante and carried the flag for Batangas and the Philippines.

Dito nagsimula: a choir that started with nothing

Caleruega, the Dominican retreat church near Mt. Batulao, opened in 1995. For close to two decades, every Sunday Mass there ran on pre-recorded CDs. No live choir, no singers.

That changed in 2013. Fr. Gerard Zabala, OP, the Caleruega director, and Fr. Allen de Guzman, OP, sat down with the church's employees and asked their children to form a choir. The kids came with their siblings, classmates, and friends. No auditions. No supportive parish. No private school to pay for training. No benefactors, no sponsors, no role models to copy.

Their families were already stretched thin, and singing sat nowhere near the top of the list. Some children walked 2 to 5 kilometres one way to reach Caleruega. Some were told to quit, and they did.

Money was so tight that at one practice Fr. Allen could afford a single loaf of bread and one Andok's lechon manok. He asked the vendor to chop the chicken into more than twenty pieces so every child could take a bite before the long walk home.

At their first Mass they froze and forgot the one song they had rehearsed for a month, "Purihin ang Panginoon." Hopeless? No. Hopeful. They kept showing up, weekend after weekend, and pulled in more friends, including the ones who could not carry a tune. Against the odds, they learned to sing. When senior high school came, they stayed.

Why they keep signing the letter B

Look at their photos and you see one hand sign again and again: the letter B. It holds the whole story. B is for taga-Barrio, taga-Bundok, taga-Bukid, kids from the village, the mountain, the farm. Growing up they had no baon, but they carried a big balak, a plan to climb out of hardship into a better bukas. And B is for Bali, the dream that sat past everything they came from.

Two winner titles, five golds

In Bali, the choir from the mountain swept its categories:

• WINNER, Choir Competition (Musica Sacra)
• WINNER, Choir Competition (Mixed Choir)
• Gold Medal, Choir Championship (Musica Sacra)
• Gold Medal, Choir Championship (Mixed Choir)
• Gold Medal, Choir Competition (Musica Sacra)
• Gold Medal, Choir Competition (Mixed Choir)
• Gold Medal, Choir Competition (Folksong)

"This achievement is not ours alone," the group wrote after the results. "It belongs to everyone who believed in our dream. To God be all the glory." They thanked conductor Sir Nick Infante, choir director Maria Lulu Orlina, and spiritual directors Fr. Allen de Guzman and Fr. Tomas Sino, along with sponsors KOPIKO Indonesia and KOPIKO Philippines and the donors who paid their way.

A stop at Lucky Plaza

Days after Bali, the singers came to Lucky Plaza on Friday, 1 August 2026, the weekend heart of the Filipino community in Singapore. They gathered outside Bodega Diner with kabayan and supporters, banner and Philippine flag in hand, fresh off their run in Indonesia. For Filipinos who work here far from home, watching barrio kids from Batangas carry the flag through an international stage and then turn up in your own Sunday haunt hits close.

The 33 singers who represented Batangas

Here is the full roster, with their ages:

• Allen Rhome Agawa, 20
• Aldren Arreglo, 25
• Aaron Atienza, 23
• Jeinelle Aure, 22
• Jermheine Aure, 19
• Zaira Avinante, 22
• Marc Joseph Barlaan, 21
• Ace Cabral, 24
• Laurence Cabral, 22
• Raven Cabral, 19
• Rosana Cabral, 25
• Quiarah Cartojano, 28
• Honey Lee Digno, 24
• Jobert Dio, 25
• Joshua David Fenol, 23
• Jaycel Gomez, 23
• Anne Dominique Infante, 24
• Ma. Elaine Javelosa, 21
• Yahje San Pedro Lacerona, 21
• Wendell Balagot Luna, 20
• Jelyn Matalog, 26
• Mariel Napolis, 18
• Jay Penon, 22
• Lhian Joyce Ramirez, 19
• Christian Rollan, 26
• Lead John Saliba, 25
• Kristine Joy Sangalang, 20
• Zy-ra Sangalang, 26
• Jean Socorro, 26
• Charmille Tingson, 18
• Nicole Villarosa Torres, 20
• Nikki Villarosa Torres, 20
• Vladimir Tuazon, 31

The team behind the voices

• Conductor: Nicanor "Nick" Infante
• Choir Director: Maria Lulu Orlina
• Spiritual Directors: Fr. Allen de Guzman, OP, and Fr. Tomas Sino
• Documentation Team: Louella Frances Orlina and Mona Mondejar
• Travel Coordinator: Basilisa Infante

Why this one matters

Most of these singers grew up with less than the families they now sing for. They walked to practice, shared chopped chicken, and forgot their lines, and they kept going until the singing turned into gold. If you know one of the 33, send a message. Ask how Bali went, and ask when they sing next. A choir grows on the people who show up to listen.