Gerard Salonga's wife, DJ Francisco, dedicated David Pomeranz's 'Born For You’ to him when they fell in love in 2000.

Valentine’s Day or not, love songs have a special place in the hearts of Pinoys. But which is considered the most romantic?

We asked Berklee College of Music graduate, Gerard Salonga who is now a top musical director, arranger and conductor of FILharmoniKA, which will play in “David Benoit LIVE Manila 2010” on February 11 at the PICC Plenary Hall. Here are his choices:

“From David Benoit, it would be ‘You Never Love Me The Same Way Twice’ because it’s about a man who’s always surprised by the way that he is loved, which is very much the same way with my wife (DJ Francisco). We never get bored telling each other that we love each other and there are many ways to show that.

“Number two would be ‘Kei’s Song,’ the instrumental song that David did for his wife. It’s really beautiful. If you love someone and the feeling is so strong [it] enables you to write a song for that person. I’ve also written a composition for my wife. When we got married, it was the music [that accompanied her] while she was walking down the aisle. Ayun ‘yung wedding march namin. Kasi violinist s’ya so I wrote a piece for violin. Oo naman [it was sweet].

“Third would be ‘Born For You’ by David Pomeranz. Kasi when we weren’t married yet, we were just falling in love pa lang in 2000, that was the song that she dedicated to me. Yes it was very popular at that time. It was playing everywhere.

“I’m thinking of another one… Ah, it’s scored by John Williams. It’s the theme that he wrote for [the Star Wars character] Princess Leia. Nasa [parts] 4, 5, 6 [ng ‘Star Wars’] s’ya. It was also the theme no’ng nai-in love na si Anakin at saka si Amidala. It’s very romantic.”

“Among [my sister] Lea’s songs, the one that I think she sings really, really well – of course there’s ‘Les Miz’ and ‘Saigon’ stuff – is a piece called ‘I Got A Crush On You,’ a standard and she sings that very, very well. She’s never sang it here. She sings jazz standards very, very well.

“She gets to sing those songs in concerts outside the Philippines. Not here because she hasn’t really had a symphony concert here. She’s been performing in concert halls not in CCP Main Theater or Philam Auditorium with a symphony orchestra. But she’s done it overseas [like in] Korea, Hong Kong, Bangkok. Lately, ‘Defying Gravity,’ from [the musical] ‘Wicked’ has been getting good reaction.”