CEBU CITY, Philippines?One thing that the production staff of GMA 7?s ?Pinoy Idol? has confirmed after four weeks of auditions all over the country: Filipinos are among the most respectful people in the world.

Even after enduring a barrage of vitriolic comments from the judges?specifically Wyngard Tracy?almost all of the rejected aspirants would invariably end the encounter with a smile and a ?Salamat po? or ?Thank you sir/ma?am.?

This observation was related to Inquirer Entertainment by Tracy himself, as well as Perry Lansigan, executive producer of the local version of the world-famous reality talent contest.

Tracy noted, ?On ?American Idol,? we often see the rejects curse, or insult, the judges. That has not happened to us ? so far.? (Cebu was the fourth stop.)

Not that they?d been dodging it.

Fishing for tantrums

Lansigan, who is part of a pre-casting team, related that, at their level, the screeners would intermittently provoke contestants to throw a tantrum? to elicit some interesting footage. Still, the common refrain would be, ?Maraming salamat po.?

Lansigan admitted that they had all but given up trying to find pugnacious or, at least, boisterous contestants. ?That would certainly make good TV. But I suppose Pinoys are just not like that. We?re mabait by nature.?

Which doesn?t mean there?s a dearth in drama.

Lansigan related, for instance, that one female contestant from Iloilo, instead of rejoicing, had looked crestfallen upon being told that she had made it to the Manila round, one step away from the final list.

?Turned out, she didn?t have money to go to Manila,? Lansigan said. ?She cheered up only when we said the show would shoulder all her travel and lodging expenses.?

True stories

Needless to say, sob stories abounded.

?At least 98 percent of the aspirants said they were trying their luck at this because they?d like to help their families financially,? said Lansigan.

Program manager Hazel Abonita has compiled a treasure trove of anecdotes. ?There?s this girl who said she had traveled 14 hours to get to the Cagayan de Oro tryout. And this other girl who said she learned of the auditions from watching TV at a neighbor?s house.?

In both instances, the crew did background checks and found the stories to be factual. However, only the second girl made it through; the first one was told to take the 14-hour journey back to where she had come from. Abonita added, ?And the girl who watched TV at the neighbor?s? We found out that her house was in the middle of a rice field, and the nearest neighbor was really far.?

To the top

Voice, looks and a good story in one package could propel an aspirant to the top of the heap, it seemed.

Abonita explained, ?From the ?American Idol? experience, it?s the individual stories that keep viewers glued to the show.?

Well, the Cebu tryouts were rife with colorful tales?happy as well as sad, or just plain wacky.

Hannah Wenceslao?s trip to Cebu was subsidized by the local government in her Leyte hometown. There were 14 of them, she told Inquirer. ?Our mayor gave me P3,000 for the boat ride and food expenses.? Hannah, a whiff of a girl who wore her curly long hair in old-fashioned rolls, got a gold ?ticket? and the judges? cheerful sendoff, ?You?re going to Manila!? On AI, that would be, ?You?re going to Hollywood!?

An eye-catching male contestant, Warren Dumaniel, came dressed like his idol April Boy Regino, down to the baseball cap. He had long hair, too. He worked as supervisor of a painting crew, said Dumaniel, who sang Regino?s hit, ?Bulong ng Damdamin.? Like Hanna, he?s going to Manila.

Booba?s ex?

Ryan Tan, who said he was the ex-boyfriend of limelight-hogging starlets Ethel Booba and Mahal, told the camera crew that he had joined up so that his long-lost father would, hopefully, see him on television and maybe want to meet him. He?s one round closer to his goal.

Quite characteristically, Tracy reiterated that even the most heart-wrenching story should come with genuine talent. At this point, in his book, only one contestant has fit the bill.

Singing ?Somewhere Over the Rainbow,? a blind girl from Iloilo had reduced ?everyone? to tears, including Tracy, who has inevitably been cast as nasty Simon Cowell, and who recounted the incident in detail: ?Ogie (Alcasid, also a judge) was the first to break down, as early as the second line. Then, Jolina (Magdangal, third in the panel) openly sobbed. I looked around and saw that even the cameramen were crying. I tried to stop my own tears from falling, by looking up.?

He failed, and the moment has been recorded for posterity. ?I noticed, belatedly, that a camera was focused on me, just waiting,? Tracy said.

Isolated outburst

In an isolated incident on the second day of the Cebu tryouts, a contestant from Leyte cursed the judges. ?But not in our presence,? Tracy said. ?Had it happened in front of us, I?d have probably just laughed.?

On ?American Idol,? there are bouncers in the room with the judges. Tracy said, ?[Franchise holder] Fremantle didn?t believe it when told that there was no need for security personnel here in the Philippines.?

There are three more auditions?in Davao, Manila and Dagupan?before the final qualifying rounds on Feb. 21. ?Pinoy Idol? starts airing in April and winds up in August.