After Charice Pempengco, another Filipina may well be on her way to musical stardom. McDonald’s employee Mary Margaret Yu came back to the country triumphant last April 20 after competing in the finals night of “Voice of McDonald’s 2008” held in Orlando, Florida.

Yu bagged the second prize for the competition while the Grand Prize was won by Natércia Pintor of Portugal. The 22-year-old Davao resident and choir member took home $10,000.

It was a tough but close competition for both girls, including fellow Filipino finalist Candido Revilles from Alberta, Canada, who battled it out with 3,600 equally talented McDonald’s crew members and managers coming from 118 countries during the first level of the eliminations.

“I was blown away by the talent. They brought the house down. It was really, really difficult to choose a winner. I applaud McDonald’s for doing this,” said multi-platinum artist Ne-Yo who sat in the panel of judges together with Sony/ATV Music Publishing co-president Jody Gerson, and Goldring, Hertz and Lichtenstein (LLP) senior partner Ken Hertz.

Last April 15, Yu advanced to the semi-finals with 13 other hopefuls. A powerful performance of Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing” turned out to be Yu’s passport to the big showdown, where she received a standing ovation. Aside from her repertoire of Whitney Houston hits, the Filipino singer is also into R&B, jazz, and ballads.

Since arriving in Orlando, Yu and the other contestants underwent a week of grueling training with vocal coaches including learning an original song written especially for the competition. Contestants also had the opportunity to bond with their colleagues from around the world and meet top McDonald’s executives.

While Yu did not have any formal music training prior to the contest, her vocal chords were regularly fine-tuned singing for the church choir as early as 12 and staging praise and worship concerts with the church band.

Two other Filipinos made it to the semi-finals—Canada-based Candido Revilles who placed third, and Yu’s best friend, Paulina Susan Bacarat, also of Davao.

Yu and Bacarat work in the same restaurant. During the online voting in the two-level elimination rounds, the two went around McDonald’s restaurants in the country to encourage people to vote for them. They also appeared together in local TV shows like “Rated K” and “Umagang Kay Ganda” to win over support from music-loving Filipinos.

“My entire McDonald’s Philippines family is so proud of me and so are my family and friends. Voice of McDonald’s has opened doors to great blessings — a stepping stone for me to reach my dream,” Yu was earlier quoted as saying.

The contest is arguably the largest global singing competition of its kind, open to 1.6 million McDonald’s employees from around the globe and from over 30,000 restaurants in over 100 countries.

Voice of McDonald’s II is just one example of the many opportunities McDonald’s creates to celebrate the talents of its employees and let their voices be heard. More details here

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