Own Asiavision Song Contest 18

Own Asiavision Song Contest 18, often referred to as OASC #18, is the 18th edition of Own Asiavision Song Contest. The contest took place in Manila, Philippines, following the country's victory in the 17th edition with the song "Love Fades", performed by Hazel Faith. This is the first time that the country hosted the contest.

Forty-two countries participated in the eighteenth edition. The contest saw the return of Japan and Macau. French Polynesia and Samoa also made their debut appearance in this edition. Unfortunately, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands and South Korea have withdrawn from the competition. Despite originally confirming, India was forced to withdraw due to not submitting an entry before the deadline.

The winner was Cambodia with the song "Beautiful Art" performed by Nikki Nikki which scored 174 points, winning by a margin of 15 points in front of Bangladesh. The podium was completed by Myanmar, which finished on the third place. Philippines, the host country placed 8th.

Location
For more details on the host country, see Philippines.

Host City
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. The city proper is home to 1,780,148 people in 2015, and is the historic core of a built-up area that extends well beyond its administrative limits. The term "Manila" is commonly used to refer to the whole metropolitan area, the greater metropolitan area or the city proper. The officially defined metropolitan area called Metro Manila, the capital region of the Philippines, includes the much larger Quezon City and the Makati Central Business District. It is the most populous region of the country, one of the most populous urban areas in the world, and is one of the wealthiest regions in Southeast Asia. With about 71,000 people per square kilometer, Manila is also the most densely populated city proper in the world.

The City of Manila is located on the eastern shores of the Manila Bay. The Pasig River flows through the middle of the city, dividing it into the north and south. Manila is made up of 16 districts: Binondo, Ermita, Intramuros, Malate, Paco, Pandacan, Port Area, Quiapo, Sampaloc, San Andres, San Miguel, San Nicolas, Santa Ana, Santa Cruz, Santa Mesa and Tondo. Manila is also made up of Six Congressional Districts that represents the city on the Lower House of the Philippine Congress.

Venue
The Philippine Arena is a multipurpose indoor arena, a 140-hectare tourism enterprise zone. With a maximum seating capacity of 51,898, the Philippine Arena is the world's largest indoor arena. It is one of the centerpieces of the many centennial projects of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) for their centennial celebration on July 27, 2014. The legal owner of the arena is the INC's educational institution, New Era University.

In 2011, Korean firm, Hanwha Engineering and Construction won the contract to manage the construction of the Philippine Arena. Hanwha outbested bids from Filipino firm, EEI Corporation and Chinese firm, Jiangsu International.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Philippine Arena was done in August 17, 2011. Hanwha announced that it has completed the construction of the indoor arena on May 30, 2014. The venue was not formally inaugurated until almost two months later.

Semi-final Allocation Draw
The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on 12 April 2018. The semi-finalists were allocated into six pots, based on their geographical place and cultural similarities.

The six pots were the following:

From these pots, 18 countries were allocated to compete in each semi-final. The draw also determined which semi-final would be voted by each of the six automatic finalist countries.

Semi-final 1
Eighteen countries participated in the first semi-final. Philippines, Taiwan and Yemen also voted in this semi-final.

Semi-final 2
Eighteen countries participated in the second semi-final. Palestine, Singapore and Thailand also voted in this semi-final.

Final
Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with all 42 participating countries eligible to vote.

Other countries


Eligibility for potential participation in the Own Asiavision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active OABU membership that would be able to broadcast the contest. As in every edition, an invitation to all the members have been sent in order to confirm whether they will participate or not. The following list of countries declined stating their reasons as shown below.


 * It was announced that Bahrain would not participate at least until new changes will occur in the management of their broadcaster.
 * Despite speculation surrounding their participation, it was later confirmed that the broadcaster had refused an invitation of participation.
 * Hong Kong had originally confirmed their participation in the contest but due to RTHK's failure to submit an entry resulted in their withdrawal.
 * The broadcaster confirmed their participation but later withdrew due to unknown circumstances.
 * It was confirmed that Maldives would not return to the contest this edition.
 * Saudi Arabia had originally planned to participate in the contest. Later they decided to withdraw.
 * KBS announced country's withdrawal for this edition.
 * The country withdrew due to a lack of time. A return next edition is very likely.
 * The broadcaster failed to give any information regarding their participation before deadline.