Alden Richards and Maine “Yaya Dub” Mendoza. PHOTO BY PHOTO BY Gwendy Gayle H. Delos Santos
CITY OF MALOLOS—The oddest fan banner put up on display at the live show on Saturday of the record-breaking “Tamang Panahon” event of “Eat Bulaga” at the Philippine Arena bore the word “Beijing” against a yellow backdrop.
It referred to where the six people carrying the banner came from.
Maricel Ford and five of her friends and officemates booked a flight home to Makati from their overseas jobs in China as soon as they heard that the noontime show was staging a special event for its comical kalyeserye (street series), “Tamang Panahon” (Right Time), at the Arena.
Ford, 40, said after she and her officemate, Jhoana Ramuran, 30, watched the announcement during a Saturday broadcast, they quickly made the decision to watch that event live “by hook or by crook.”
“We immediately contacted our friends here to buy us tickets to the show and then the following day we booked our flight. We took personal leaves from our respective jobs,” she said.
Ford, who hails from Leyte province, said she manages an “AlDub” Fan Twitter account in Beijing.
“We’ve always liked the AlDub shows because the actors appear so simple and genuine on and off screen,” Ford said, referring to the popular tandem of Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza or “Yaya Dub.”
READ: ‘AlDub’ breaks Fifa World Cup’s Twitter record
The event was organized to raise funds for a library project and the big crowd that flocked to the 55,000-seat Arena exceeded expectations.
Senior Supt. Ferdinand Divina, Bulacan police director, said the show drew 58,000 people. This number did not include those who lined up and were turned away because they did not have tickets.
Fans arrived at the Arena as early as 3 a.m. and stood in line in what could be the longest queue they have been in. There were families, groups of friends, office workers and students who saved up for the trip.
Fans carried fancy “AlDub” banners, tarpaulins and posters which they raised high up as they walked toward the Arena.
READ: AlDub show shakes PH Arena, logs 30M tweets
But the big number of motorists who headed for the Arena did not disrupt traffic along the North Luzon Expressway, Divina said. He said 4,862 light vehicles and 104 buses used the parking areas of the Arena at Ciudad de Victoria.
Rubieliza Albay, 34, from Muntinlupa City, arrived with her brother and sister-in-law shortly before 6 a.m. Albay said her husband bought tickets for the family but they gave these up after they realized that their children were too young to watch a live show.
Aleja Santos, 29, from Sta. Mesa, Manila, wore Yaya Dub’s yellow hanky headband. Juan Brizo, 29, a software engineer from the City of Meycauayan in Bulacan, wore a red shirt bearing the phrase: “I was part of history. Philippine Arena. 10.24.15.”