Two young boys from Negros Occidental made it through the blind auditions of the "The Voice Kids" aired over ABS-CBN Saturday night.

Angelico “Echo” Claridad, 8, of Bacolod City, and Earl Consolacion, 12, of Cadiz City, managed to wow the judges who have to whittle down to 54, the 109 contestants competing in the blind auditions.

The 109 were chosen from about 6,000 contestants from around the country who auditioned for the show, Raffy Claridad, father of Angelico, said yesterday.

Angelico, who began singing when he was 3 years old, managed to turn all three chairs on "The Voice Kids" with his rendition of the Bee Gees song, "Too Much Heaven," during the blind auditions.

After that, he chose award-winning singer Lea Salonga to be his coach over Sarah Geronimo and Bamboo Manalac, who tried to win him over to their teams.

"That kid is magic. You don't get an 8-year-old with a soul like that," Salonga said.

Geronimo said she was excited by the potential of the 8-year-old, and added that she could teach him how to expand his vocal range.

Manalac said "I like the whole look. The whole package. Parang throwback. You can sing like the Bee Gees, I would like to have someone very young on my team with raw talent that I can teach,” he said.

Salonga pulled out a map that marked each country she has performed in, and told Angelico that with his "world-class" voice, she "can show him the world."

Raffy Claridad, a waiter at a Bacolod hotel, said Salonga has given his son seven songs to practice on and that they are set to meet again on June 16.

He said he and his father also used to sing at amateur singing contests. His favorite singers were the Bee Gees, and that rubbed off on Angelico, he said.

Angelico’s 1-year-old brother is named Andy Gibb after one of the Bee Gees.

Angelico was the champion of the Murcia Got Talent 2011 singing contest, and has won in several other talent shows in Negros Occidental and Manila, his father said.

He is a grade 3 student at ETCS 1 in Bacolod.

Also making it through the blind editions Saturday was Consolacion, who sang Dessa's "Lipad ng Pangarap", and nailed the last note, causing Geronimo to turn around.

When he was asked where he does his singing, Consolacion answered: "KBL (Kasal, Birthday, at Libing).”

When Salonga asked him for a sample, he sang "Patuloy Ang Pangarap", "Kahit Isang Saglit", and "Ikaw".*CPG

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