Ely Buendia Kikstarts A Beatles Campaign

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.