The Voice of the Philippines (season 2)
The second season of "The Voice of the Philippines" was a reality singing competition in ABS-CBN which started airing on October 26, 2014. apl.de.ap, Lea Salonga, Sarah Geronimo, and Bamboo Mañalac returned as coaches for this season. Toni Gonzaga also returned to host the show; she was also joined by "The Voice Kids" host, Luis Manzano. Robi Domingo and Alex Gonzaga also returned to reprise their roles as the show's V-reporters. The show aired every Saturdays 8:45 p.m. (PST) and Sundays at 8:30 p.m. (PST). On March 1, 2015, Jason  Dy of Team Sarah won the competition, beating Alisah Bonaobra of Team apl. Development. Coaches and hosts. Sarah Geronimo confirmed that she had a hard time working as a coach during the first season, but she confirmed that she was still willing to work as a coach for the second season. On December 16, 2013, it was announced that Geronimo signed an exclusive contract with ABS-CBN for two years. Part of her contract was her stint as a coach for the second season. Lea Salonga also expressed that she wanted to return as a coach for the second season . However, depended on her schedule. "I want to do it again. I would be defending. I kind of would love to stay but then there are external forces that are no longer in my control. There's my schedule, there's a call of Broadway and there's a call of other things. It was magical the first season because all of the stars aligned perfectly," said Salonga. On January 15, 2014 interview by "Push", Salonga confirmed her return as coach in the show. ""The Voice" is coming back. I mean first it's okay to announce it, I have  not been given the go ahead yet to say anything yet but I am certainly coming back so my chair is going to turning again for people so I am excited," she said. Salonga also confirmed that there were rumors that apl.de.ap will not return to the show. She commented, "As for Season 2, I have no idea what the plans are for Apl if he is going to return, I hope he does because over the first season the four of us have developed a really nice rapport and banter and chemistry and it would be nice to pick  up where we left off rather than start over but those things are not up to me. So I am only hoping that he returns for Season 2 if he doesn't we hope we find somebody who will be able to fit the chair and be able to keep up with us because the three of us are on, it is so on, it is just the trash talking begins." It was noted that near the end of the first season, apl.de.ap along with Bamboo Mañalac had expressed their intentions to return for the second season. On March 20 , 2014, the "Sun Star Manila" confirmed the return of all coaches for the second season. On June 12, 2014 interview by MJ Filipe of "ABS-CBN News", apl confirmed his return for the second season. Toni Gonzaga also returned as the host. On April 15, 2014, Domingo confirmed his return for the second season. By September of the same year, Alex Gonzaga was confirmed to return while Luis Manzano was added as T. Gonzaga's co-host. Prizes. The winner of the second season of the franchise won a trophy designed by Leeroy New, a house and lot worth 2  million pesos from Camella Homes, a business package from Brother Philippines worth 1 million pesos, a shopping spree and an Asian tour package for two from Jag worth 350 thousand pesos, a brand new Ford Fiesta, a musical instrument package worth 100 thousand pesos, an MCA Universal recording contract, and 2 million pesos from Systema Toothpaste. Broadcast. An air date of November 15, 2014 was first reported by Salonga; however, it was pushed to October 26, 2014, three weeks earlier than the initial air date. Its first two episodes aired only on Sundays. Starting on November 8, the show aired  every Saturdays and Sundays — completely occupying the weekend time slots of "I Do". Auditions. The show was renewed for a second season after it garnered immense popularity and high television ratings. ABS-CBN later announced that auditions for January 2014 for the Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao regions together with the auditions for the first season of "The Voice Kids". Online auditions were slated for summer 2014, but were pushed to June 2014. Blind auditions. Lea Salonga wrote in the "Philippine Daily Inquirer" that blind auditions were t be filmed by June, but they were moved to September 7  to 10 of the same year. At the end of the blind auditions, each team had 14 artists. A week prior to the start of the first episode, several teasers were aired. Two were blind auditions teasers wherein two female contestants sang their respective audition piece. The blind auditions first aired on October 26, 2014. and ended on November 30, 2014 after 10 episodes. Episode 1 (October 26). The first episode had an opening performance of the coaches. Sarah Geronimo and Lea Salonga sang "Run the World" by Beyoncé, and were followed by Bamboo Mañalac and apl.de.ap who sang "Ten  Feet Tall" by Afrojack. All then performed a mash-up of the two songs. The Battles. The power to steal an artist from the other teams was implemented during this season. At the end of the Battles, each coach had nine artists who advanced to the Knockouts, two of whom were stolen artists from the other teams. The Battles opened with Lea Salonga and Bamboo Mañalac singing Stevie Wonder's "Someday at Christmas", followed by Sarah Geronimo and apl.de.ap singing Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You." The coaches sang ABS-CBN's Christmas Station ID's  Ang Babait Ninyo together, originally sung by "The Voice Kids" top four finalists. The first episode of the Battles aired on December 6, 2014, and the sixth and last episode aired on December 21, 2014. The Knockouts. The Knockouts was added along with steals. Each artist had to sing and convince his/her coach in order to pick him/her up for the final line-up for the Live shows. Each team was divided into three groups of three artists, and each artist decided which song to sing. In each group, two advanced to the Live shows with the remaining  one eliminated from competition. At the end of this round, from the nine artists per team, only six artists advanced to the Live shows. Live shows. The Live Shows aired on January 24, 2015 at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, a theater with a capacity of 1,500 at Resorts World Manila in Newport City, Pasay, Metro Manila. It was the second time that this stage of the competition was held there. Differentiating from the first season, the live shows were aired Saturdays and Sundays; the former was for the performance night, the latter for the results night. The voting system  was similar to the semifinals of the previous season wherein the public voted for the artist they wanted to save per team. Voting commenced after all the artists had performed and closed the following night. The accumulated public votes from the public determined the first artist to advance from each team, and their respective coaches chose the second. For the third and fourth Live show weeks, a new voting format was formed. Each night was a performance and results night. Two teams had to perform per night. After each team had performed, the voting lines were opened and closed immediately  after the commercial break. Before the night ended, one artist per team was eliminated. By the fifth week, the use of points was reinstated; half of which were from the public and half from the artist's coach. Coaches were barred from giving equal points to their respective artists. The finale was on March 1, 2015. Week 1 (January 24 & 25). Notes: Week 2 (January 31 & February 1). After the announcement of the results of the public votes, apl.de.ap along with Abra, Loonie, Jessica Reynoso of season 1, and some artists made a tribute to the 44 members of the  Philippine National Police–Special Action Force who died in a clash with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters. Notes: Week 3 (February 7 & 8). Notes: Week 4. Notes: Week 6: Finals (February 28 & March 1). As in the previous season, the finale was aired in a two part episode. However, deviating from previous Live shows, the "1 sim equals 1 vote" rule was implemented. There were four sets of performances per artist in the first round. The results of the votes were then revealed on the second episode of the finals, where the final  two artists had to perform in a final showdown. After the two top artists were revealed, the scores were reset to zero. The voting lines were then reopened for the final two, wherein the artist with the highest vote totals was the winner of the competition. The finals were held in the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila, Pasay. Reception. Controversies. Spoiler issue. Several users from Facebook and Twitter were blocked by the social management team of the show after several spoilers of The Battles' winners were posted online. This incident made Salonga furious and disappointed. Joniver Robles' departure  from the show. After the last episode of the Knockouts that aired last January 19, Mañalac announced that Joniver Robles was replaced by Rita Martinez after the former decided to withdraw from the show due to personal reasons. However, in a post of Robles via his Facebook account, he stressed that he never knew about his status until he saw the episode. Due to this, lots of speculation arose online regarding Robles' removal from the show. Salonga was asked about the issue but decided to not comment. She further stated that she was not the proper person to be asked  since it was not her team that was involved. Television ratings. Television ratings for the second season of "The Voice of the Philippines" on ABS-CBN were gathered from two major sources – AGB Nielsen and Kantar Media. AGB Nielsen's survey ratings were gathered from Mega Manila households, while Kantar Media's survey ratings were gathered from urban and rural households all over the Philippines. Based from the data gathered by Kantar Media, the second season was the sixth most watched show in February 2015, garnering an average viewership of 24.4%.