They were right when they said we breed them like rabbits. This album is yet another proof that we have an inordinate number of good vocal chords per square mile in our shores. The second year of this TV singing contest harvests a crop of excellent new voices (three of them surnamed Santos) from the seemingly inexhaustible Filipino gene pool.

This album has a wise choice of challenging pieces, showcasing each winning voice’s strength. I’ve followed the show only in fits and starts, but if I were to judge the contestants based on their singing here, the clear winner - a runaway one - is Aicelle Santos’s cool alternative diva style. She is at the same time soulful and powerful in “All the Man That I Need.” She’s easily my favorite.

My second place is Denver Regencia’s stylish RnB take on “How can You Mend a Broken Heart.” This guy’s got some mean beat in his bones. I remember involuntarily rooting for him one night. I know he’ll go places.

The rest are all third place winners to me – a quintuple tie. Harry Santos has an angelic voice that matches the face. I think his version of “To Where You Are” can still be improved, though, especially the way he needs to control the dropping of some words and syllables.

Gerald Santos (the grand champion) proves in “Kahit Isang Saglit” that he is indeed a promising balladeer, but I find it too premature to judge his almost-prepubescent voice, which is highly subject to change in the coming years, or even months. But yup, his solid crescendos for someone his age (he’s only 15) are basically the one thing remarkable about this guy.

Irra Cenina (“If I Could”) delivers a carefully measured performance of a Ray Charles classic. He ends up with an understated, yet impressive interpretation of an actually challenging number.

Elise Estrada is quite nervous, yet sweet and girlish in the song “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman.” She succeeds in not making a spoof of the song, which often falls victim to transvestites, the transgendered, and real females who don’t handle it well (even to “virtual women” in Simone).

Neither is Rosemarie Tan’s “Neither One of Us” lousy at all. In her precocious, sophisticated way, she rounds out a set that makes one wonder how musical talent manages to thrive in such a politically volatile nation as ours.

I also can’t help but commend the arrangement work, or rearrangement, which is a nice departure from the oft-repeated and the highly predictable. Particularly notable is Ces Zuniga’s vocal arrangement on the final number, a group number for the classic, stage-derived anthem “Magsimula Ka.”

This is no doubt a remarkably talented batch. I didn’t find myself whiny at all reviewing their CD and listening to their tracks again and again. And so far, this is the best of this type of album that I’ve ever reviewed. If you followed this show religiously, you’d want to go out now and buy this CD.