It has been nearly 5 decades when The Beatles first came to
the Philippines. July 4, 1966— a pack of
Marlboro cost P1 , the dollar exchange rate was P3.90 to a peso, taxi flagdown rate was .15 centavos while the
minimum jeep fare was .10 centavos. Beatles mania was at its peak in Manila and the band was scheduled to do
a couple of shows at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium. Among the front acts were Pilita Corales,
Raycards Duets (?) and D’ Downbeats, Pinoy Rock Icon Pepe Smith banged the
skins for this band I think. The gig was
sold-out to more than 100,000 young kids and that’s just the number inside the
stadium who could afford the P50 and P20 tickets.
The next day, some uniformed men came and
banged on the group’s door in Manila Hotel.
They claimed The Beatles was set to gig at the Malacanang Palace for
Marcos and the First Family’s regalement.
The whole shenanigan at Malacanang was televised live. But the band knows nothing of the
appointment. Why? Because Bryan Epstein, the band manager, had
politely declined the invitation to begin with. Imelda, however, was
offended…so as the cabinet secretaries, senators, assemblymen (or was it
congressmen?), VIPs and all their families who were in full feathers for The
Beatles. That was the flying start of
their nightmare. Funny thing was, twas
not even Martial Law yet back then. But
Marcos’ puppets, loyalists and cronies made sure The Beatles pay the price,
literally and figuratively. After the
horrific ordeal, The Beatles vowed to NEVER step on Philippine soil again
ever.
Now, Ely Buendia, of the famed
Eraserheads and Oktaves frontman, himself a declared Beatles fan, has launched
a campaign to convince the remaining Beatles particularly Ringgo Starr to come
back to the Philippines. Starr has a new
album out titled “Poscards from Paradise”, and Buendia is encouraging fans of
The Beatles to send Ringgo a postcard from Paradise—“ to give him a good
picture of the Philippines.”
I agree 100% if you are a Beatles fan, it’s time
to make some noise. How bad The Beatle’s Manila experience was is only a google
away. You’ll get fragments of the whole
story if you watch Ely’s video appeal I’ve attached here. Meanwhile, I'll go and create myself a
Twitter account.
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