Armarie Cruz

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"Arms comes from one of the biggest gene pool talent provider in Philippine Showbiz; the Cruz clan. She is a proof that talent is really inherited and gets better and better every generation."

Armarie “Arms” Cruz, born Armarie Lourdes Saavedra Cruz in July 30, 1978^[1], is the daughter of the late Muslim actor Mohammad Faizal and wife Maricar Saavedra from a big political clan in Zamboanga. Naturally gifted with powerful singing voice, she started to be active in the singing competitions as early as 17 years old. Among her singing credits include awards such as the Grand Champion of the Awit Tanghalan and Bagong Bituin^[2] singing competitions. One of her greatest achievements was when she won Panasonic Musicmate Star in the Philippines. In 1992, she was the third champion [after the Philippine Champions Jaimie Rivera and Ima Castro, both of the broadway play Miss Saigon and before Jed Maddela who won in 1995] of the said local competition. Her winning the local competition gave her the chance to compete in the Panasonic’s Quest for the Best International held in Jakarta, Indonesia and became the Grand Champion and bested competitors from where the former two champions failed to achieve in the previous first two years of the competition. Showbusiness and entertainment runs in her blood because she is in the family of one of the biggest gene pool talent in Philippine Showbiz - the Cruz clan. Tirso Cruz III^[3], famed Philippine actor is a relative as well as the younger generation of Cruzes: actresses and singers Donna^[4], Geneva^[5], Sheryl^[6] and Sunshine Cruz-Montano^[7] are some of them. She is also the cousin of the new Director and Screenplay Writer Ace Cruz, known for directing a Documentary Travelogue in Egypt entitled "The Journey"^[8] which showcases the route of the Holy Family during their exile in Egypt as well as her first local film co-directed with another director, Portia Alviz, entitled "Silang mga Rampadora"^[9]. Ms. Ace Cruz is also one of the producers of the 53rd FAMAS Awards in 2004^[10]. Armarie's cousin is the daughter of the Engr. Adelio Cruz, the eldest brother of Mohammad Faizal and is the producer of the now defunct movie outfit Mindanao Films, International known for their blockbuster hit entitled "Ang Pusakal at mga Yagit"^[11] starring Mohammad Faizal^[12] and the kids from one of the 80's TV Drama Series, "Mga Batang Yagit" as well as other movies with a Moslem or Mindanaoan theme. Another feather in her hat was when Armarie made it to the final 12 of the Philippine Idol^[13], the franchise of the American Idol singing competition in the US. She made it in the top 24 among the auditioning 10,000 thousands, along with her brother Armando Cruz Jr. during the Philippine Idol fast tracks at SM Zamboanga but unlike his sister, he wasn't able to make it in the Top 24. On the day of Armarie's elimination, the management decided on a new ruling for the text voting process where in ABC 5 executives and Idol franchise owner, Fremantle UK, agreed to limit the length of the voting window from 22 hours to only 2 hours to lessen the predictability of the text votes results .Armarie was eliminated on her fifth week on October 30, 2006^[14] and lost to Apple Chiu, the other girl at the bottom two for that particular episode in which there was a new ruling regarding a new two-hour text voting protocol established by the Philippine Idol Management. Unfortunately, this was the reason why fans felt Armarie lost in spite of her competitive edge over the others; her followers didn't have the time to 'acclimatize' to the new ruling and were not able to vote for her during the scheduled time.

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