Allyzza Kay Trinidad

Jose Mari Chan reveals the heartwarming story behind “Christmas in Our Hearts”

Article (news)

Mary Ann Bardinas

<p>Just like that, we&#39;ve already arrived in the &quot;Ber&quot; months!&nbsp;</p><p>It may not be a big deal elsewhere, but here in the Philippines, September means one thing: Christmas has officially started! Even though Christmas decors are not yet up, we&#39;re already feeling the Christmas spirit as OPM legend and &ldquo;King of Philippine Christmas Carols&rdquo; Jose Mari Chan once again makes frequent appearances, while his iconic hit &ldquo;Christmas in Our Hearts&rdquo; can be heard everywhere, over and over again, having become an integral part of our annual Yuletide tradition.&nbsp;</p><p>But have you ever wondered how the all-time favorite Christmas song among Pinoys came to be? The legendary hitmaker shared the wonderful story behind it, as well as anecdotes from his personal life and his decades-long entertainment career, during his guesting in the season finale episode of the ABS-CBN Studios online Bisaya talk show &quot;Kuan on One&quot; released on September 1. &nbsp;</p><p>Jose Mari, who asked host Melai Cantiveros not to address him as &ldquo;sir,&rdquo; but rather as &ldquo;Toto&rdquo;&mdash;an affectionate Ilonggo nickname for boys or men&mdash;or Joe Mari, revealed that it all happened in 1989, three years after he and his family returned to the Philippines in 1986 following an 11-year stay in New York City, USA.&nbsp;</p><p>It all began when Universal Records executive Bella Tan&mdash;whose father, James Dy, produced his song &quot;Deep In My Heart&quot; in 1969&mdash;asked him to come up with a Christmas song to take advantage of the immense popularity of the love songs they&#39;d just released, including &quot;Beautiful Girl&quot; and &quot;Be Careful With My Heart.&quot;&nbsp;</p><p>Having never written a Christmas song before, Jose Mari recalled seeking divine guidance to help him come up with one. He recounted to Melai, &ldquo;So, overnight, I prayed to the Holy Spirit. I said, &lsquo;Please, bless me and inspire me to write a Christmas song.&rsquo;&rdquo;&nbsp;</p><p>Apparently, Jose Mari must have quite a strong connection with the Lord because, the very next day, it seemed that his prayer had already been answered. Although it happened decades ago, he could still vividly recall that it took place on a Sunday after he and his family attended Mass.&nbsp;</p><p>As they were leaving, a young girl approached their car and introduced herself as Rina Ca&ntilde;iza, a budding songwriter. Rina confidently expressed her desire to collaborate with him on a song someday and handed him a card containing her address and phone number.&nbsp;</p><p>&ldquo;I went home and remembered I was praying for God to inspire me to write a Christmas song. Baka this was His answer,&rdquo; he recalled, to which Melai eagerly agreed. &ldquo;So, I called her and she came to the house and I gave her a melody and together we completed the lyrics to &lsquo;Christmas in Our Hearts.&rsquo;&rdquo;&nbsp;</p><p>Apart from the classic hit, Jose Mari revealed that he has 21 other Christmas songs, which he enumerated for Melai. He even promised to send her the albums where those songs are featured so that she and her family could play them every Christmas.&nbsp;</p><p>As Melai remarked on how the Christmas songs he had written have grown close to people&rsquo;s hearts through the years and have continued to make them feel the spirit of Christmas whenever they hear them, the 81-year-old hitmaker, who was born and raised in Iloilo City, couldn&rsquo;t be more grateful to God.&nbsp;</p><p>&ldquo;Thank God for that. Thank God. It&rsquo;s a gift that God has given me and I always acknowledge that,&rdquo; he stated.&nbsp;</p><p>With &ldquo;Christmas in Our Hearts&rdquo; and his other Yuletide compositions among the songs massively played by Pinoys during the season, the media has crowned him the &ldquo;King of Philippine Christmas Carols.&rdquo; However, Jose Mari still finds it difficult to accept the title because he doesn&rsquo;t want to take away the spotlight or credit from the True Reason for the Season.&nbsp;</p><p>&ldquo;Because the real spirit of Christmas should be on our Lord Jesus Christ. Because He&rsquo;s the meaning of Christmas. I&rsquo;m only singing the Christmas carols to celebrate His season. But He is the most important, not me. I&rsquo;m just a minstrel,&rdquo; he said. He also reminded everyone that the spirit of Christmas lies in giving and sharing, encouraging people to share their blessings with those in need and mend broken relationships because life is short.&nbsp;</p><p>While Pinoys love his works so much, did you know that Jose Mari actually doesn&rsquo;t like his songs to be played at home while their family celebrates Christmas? Instead, he disclosed that they listen to music by other artists, such as Ray Conniff and Percy Faith. Moreover, he has never dared to ask any of his nine grandchildren about their reactions to his songs, as he feels embarrassed and lacks confidence in his own creations.&nbsp;</p><p>Despite this, he still gets to sing Christmas songs with his children since their family loves music. He has even recorded a song with one of his granddaughters.&nbsp;</p><p>When asked by Melai what he&rsquo;s looking forward to this Christmas, he said, &ldquo;I look forward to reparation of relationships among my friends because there are broken relationships. So, it is my hope that they will mend their relationships.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p><p>Jose Mari further showed his selflessness through his Christmas wish, which he dedicated neither to himself nor to his family, but to his fellow kababayans.&nbsp;</p><p>&ldquo;My Christmas wish for my country is for the upliftment of our people because I&rsquo;m still bothered when I see that there&rsquo;s still a lot of poor people around us. So, I&rsquo;m doing my part, but I wish that everyone will do his part also to uplift the country. I don&rsquo;t want to see poverty anymore in this country,&rdquo; he shared, then added, &ldquo;The best, of course, is education. Each Filipino deserves education in their life to uplift their [own selves].&rdquo;&nbsp;</p><p>Jose Mari also imparted valuable advice to young people and families. He conveyed, &ldquo;For the family, spend as much time with your parents because, as I said&mdash;I don&rsquo;t want to sound like a broken record&mdash;your parents will not be with you forever. Someday, you will look back and regret that you should have spent more time with your parents. Listen to their stories. Even if they repeat the same stories, listen to them. Learn from their stories and ask them for advice. They&rsquo;ll feel important.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p><p>The season 5 finale episode of &ldquo;Kuan on One&rdquo; wrapped up with Melai asking Jose Mari to wish viewers a &ldquo;Merry Christmas&rdquo; as early as now. He willingly obliged, expressing, &ldquo;I want to wish every single Filipino a very blessed Christmas and may the spirit of Christmas be always in your hearts.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p><p>Relive the insightful conversations with Kuantie Melai by watching the full episodes of &ldquo;Kuan on One&rdquo; on the ABS-CBN Entertainment YouTube Channel. You can also catch the episodes on <a href="https://app.iwanttfc.com/dFR6MWHAcVb" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><u>iWant</u></strong></a>. <strong></strong></p><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><strong>More on this story:&nbsp;</strong></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/studios/tv/2026/9/4/jose-mari-chan-and-melai-cantiveros-craft-relatable-song-titles-in-pas-kuan-album-challenge-0155" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><u>Jose Mari Chan and Melai Cantiveros craft relatable song titles in &ldquo;Pas-Kuan Album&rdquo; challenge | Kuan on One</u></strong></a></div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/studios/tv/2026/9/1/chan-ta-jose-mari-chan-sinalubong-ang-ber-months-sa-showtime-1403" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><u>Chan-ta! Jose Mari Chan, sinalubong ang BER months sa Showtime</u></strong></a></div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/itsshowtime/videos/jose-mari-chan-maagang-ipinaramdam-ang-kapaskuhan-367258" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><u>Jose Mari Chan, maagang ipinaramdam ang kapaskuhan sa It&rsquo;s Showtime</u></strong></a></div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/celebrities/2026/9/1/did-you-know-at-81-jose-mari-chan-runs-a-business-when-he-s-not-performing-onstage-1835" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><u>Did you know? At 81, Jose Mari Chan runs a business when he&#39;s not performing onstage</u></strong></a></div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/showbiz/music/2026/9/1/jose-mari-chan-sees-music-as-his-gift-back-to-god-1200" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong><u>Jose Mari Chan sees music as his &lsquo;gift back to God&rsquo;</u></strong></a></div>

<p>As legendary OPM hitmaker Jose Mari Chan reveals the wonderful story behind his all-time favorite classic hit "Christmas in Our Hearts" during his guesting on "Kuan on One."</p>

As legendary OPM hitmaker Jose Mari Chan reveals the wonderful story behind his all-time favorite classic hit "Christmas in Our Hearts" during his guesting on "Kuan on One."