Sod Manila!
From EMPIRE OF MEMORY, 1992 / 2014
AT HALF PAST THREE in the afternoon of July 5, 1966, a mob hired by President Ferdinand Marcos chased the Beatles out of Manila International Airport. I remember the jittery footage of the scene being replayed over and over on The News Tonite on Channel 5. A grim-looking commentator was saying the Fab but Discourteous Four had shamelessly humiliated the First Lady and her children by refusing to pay a courtesy call at Malacañang Palace. Imelda Marcos herself hastily issued a statement saying the Beatles were to be treated humanely despite the snub, but this was said after the factâafter the Beatles had been kicked, spat at, cursed, and chased into a waiting jet.
   Julian Hidalgo, known by the nickname Jun, took me and my sister Delphi to the Beatlesâ concert at Rizal Memorial Stadium. At that time he was courting my sister and was hoping to win me over by playing the older brother. They were both nineteen, and the rituals of this older generation meant nothing to me beyond free passes to a number of movies, where I had to chaperone Delphi. The three of us would witness, not by accident, the Beatles being beaten up at the airport, and for some time we would bond in a special wayâconspirators mystically united by an adventure whose significance would only dawn on us long after the event had passed. Jun explained a few details about this incident to me eighteen years later, when, in the ironic twists of fate that coursed through our lives during the dictatorship, he and I became colleagues once again in the censorship office in Malacañang. But in 1966 we were young, brash, and bold with hope, and like the entire country, we seemed on the verge of a privileged destiny.
   Three days before the concert, Jun rushed to our house with three front-row tickets. Delphiâs eyes widened like 45s. âWhere did you get the money this time, ha?â she asked incredulously.    âThe First Lady gave them to me,â Jun said proudly. And, in response to our howls of disbelief, âWell, actually, this reporter from the Manila Times gave them to me. The First Lady was giving away sacks of rice and tickets last week. This reporter owed me for a tip I gave him years ago, the one that got him the Press Club award. He wanted the rice, I asked for the tickets. He was one of those Perry Como types.â    Imelda Marcos had flown in friends and media to celebrate her birthday on her native island of Leyte. There was roast suckling pig and a rondalla playing all day. She herself obliged requests for a song with a tearful ballad in the dialect, âAng Irog Nga Tuna,â My Motherland. To commemorate the sentimental reunion, each guest went home with the rice and tickets.    âNow thatâs style,â Delphi said. Then, upon reflection: âThey wonât let Alfonso in.â    âOf course they would!â I protested. I was just thirteen but I was already as tall as she was.    âThatâs not the point,â Jun said impatiently. âIâm going to get myself assigned to cover the Beatles and we can talk to them ourselves.â    âAll the other reporters will beat you to it,â I said. Jun was stringing for the Manila Times and was convinced that getting an exclusive interview would land him a job as a staff reporter.    âAll the other reporters listen to nothing but Ray Conniff,â he said. âBesides, nobody knows where theyâre staying. But I do.â    Junâs modus operandi wasnât going to be that easy. He managed to get stage passes for the three of us, which turned out to be inutile. It was the official pass, printed and distributed in London, that we had to wangle if we were to get near the Beatles.    âGo ahead and do your job,â Delphi told him icily. âWeâll see you at the stadium.â    âI can still get you the pass,â Jun said. âSomehow.â He was beginning to realize that concert security would directly affect his personal relationships. But not even his religious coverage of pre-concert press briefings seemed to help. Local promoters announced that the Beatlesâ only press conference was going to be held at the War Room of the Philippine Navy headquarters, and that the concert was being staged, not by coincidence, on the fourth of July as a birthday gift to the Republic (July 4th) and the First Lady (July 2nd).    Other questions were left unanswered. Had the Beatles secretly arrived by submarine? âThatâs confidential.â Were they actually going to stay at the Palace? âThatâs confidential.â In the end somebody asked if the Beatles actually existed, and the joke was that that, too, was confidential.    The excitement was further fueled by a series of wire stories the dailies ran on page one, including coverage of the Beatlesâ world tour, warnings of possible riots all over the world, and a rare discordant moment in Tokyo, where a reporter asked the group, âWhat are you going to be when you grow up?â The reply: âIf you grow up yourself youâd know better than to ask that question.â    Radio stations kept playing the Beatlesâ hits (most requested: âYesterdayâ and âHelp!â), and DZUW, Rainy Day Radio, preempted everyone and began playing the new single, âPaperback Writer.â The Philippine Security Corporation created the biggest stir when it insured the Beatles for a million pesos. Two hundred Philippine Constabulary troopers, seven hundred policemen, detachments from the Pasay City and Parañaque police, the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the Bureau of Customs, and the Marines were on red alert. The First Lady bought fifteen hundred tickets and distributed them to volunteer recruits to Vietnam, who were going to be the showâs guests of honor. Pro-Beatle fan clubs were staging rallies, counterpointed by anti-Beatle demonstrations where placards said, âNo one is more popular than Jesus!!!â Government bureaucrats had to drive away contractors who were bribing them with concert tickets. On the eve of the Beatlesâ arrival, a young colegiala threatened to jump off the roof of the Bank of the Philippine Islands building unless she was granted a private audience with the band.    Backstage at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, an air-conditioned dressing room was hastily installed a day before the concert, complete with state-of-the-art TV monitors and audio equipment. Quarter-page ads appeared in the dailies for a week, announcing concert schedules and sponsors. Finally, on July 3, the day of the Beatlesâ arrival, a full-page splash appeared in all the dailies:
LIVE! THE BEST IN THE WORLD! THE BEATLES IN MANILA With Asiaâs Queen of Songs Pilita Corales Carding Cruz and his Orchestra The Wing Duo The Lemons Three Dale Adriatico The Reycard Duet and Eddie Reyes & The Downbeats!
   Early that morning, Jun called us up. âGet dressed, both of you. Weâre meeting the Beatles at the airport.â    âWhat do you mean, we?â Delphi asked.    âI told you weâd talk to them, didnât I?â Jun said. âDid I ever break a promise?â    On many occasions, yes, but this was one promise for which Delphi was willing to risk her lifeâand mine, if need be. She drove our parentsâ 1964 Ford to the airport as though she wanted to mow down everything in our way, laughing as irate motorists yelled obscenities at us.    When we finally met Jun at the parking lot, he handed us a pile of obviously used porter uniforms. âI paid the guy twenty pesos to rent them,â he said proudly.    âDoes this guy know what youâre renting them for?â Delphi asked, crinkling her nose as she daintily held her uniform away.    Jun held up a bootleg 45, pressed in Hong Kong, in red vinyl. âIf I get an autograph, we get a refund.â
THE CATHAY PACIFIC jet swooped in at half past four. The airport was jam-packed with the biggest crowd I had ever seen in my life: girls in bobby socks and leatherette miniskirts and boys in seersucker suits, all perspiring and scrunched against a chain-link fence. This was definitely the wrong place to be. As the jet taxied in, we tore ourselves away from the crowd and wormed our way to one of the departure exits, just in time to catch a baggage trolley rattling toward the plane. Jun hopped on, and Delphi and I awkwardly clambered after him. I was afraid Delphiâs bobbed hair would spill out of the cap she was wearing and blow our cover. But, having regained her composure, she stood handsomely in the last car, gripping the rail; it was no wonder Jun risked life, limb, and career for her. Â Â Â The trolley rattled past armored cars, fire trucks, riot squads, and troops of motorcycle police who were wearing special cowboy hats for this occasion. As soon as the trolley cranked to a stop under the jet, Jun hopped off. He was about to head toward the stairs when a limousine careened and cut him off. Three official-looking men dressed in formal barong Tagalog got off the limousine and rushed up to the plane. What followed was an interminable, bated-breath pause. Jun walked up the stairs and saw the officials arguing with passengers near the planeâs exit. Somebody was saying, âIs there a war going on?â Â Â Â Finally, one official tentatively walked out of the plane. This was enough to excite the increasingly impatient crowd, and immediately a cacophony of screams burst from the viewing deck. The screams grew louder as other officials and soldiers walked out of the plane. By the time Brian Epstein groggily stepped out, the screaming had reached earsplitting levelâno matter that the soldiers surrounded the Beatles from jet to limousine and we caught glimpses of them only through spaces in the cordon sanitaire: George Harrison, his hair tousled by the humid wind, his red blazer flashing like a signal of distress, Ringo Starr in peppermint stripes and flapping foulard, Paul McCartney, round-eyed and baby-faced, and John Lennon, hiding behind dark glasses. Â Â Â Jun hurried down the stairs and motioned for us to follow him. Â Â Â âWhat happened in there?â Delphi asked him. Â Â Â âI donât know,â Jun said. âAll I heard was a lot of words your folks wouldnât want you to hear.â Â Â Â âWhat does that mean?â Delphi asked. Â Â Â âNothing we canât find out,â said Jun.
THE MANILA TIMES ran a story about the press conference at the War Room. Jun fumed over his colleagueâs story, saying, âThis idiot did little more than transcribe the Q&A.â It turned out, however, that the Beatlesâ replies would be uncannily prophetic.
   THE BEATLES! YEAH!    By Bobby Tan
   When did you last get a haircut?    In 1933.    Would you be as popular without your long hair?    We can always wear wigs.    How much taxes do you pay?    Too much.    What attracted you to your wives?    Sex.    Do you feel you deserve the Order of the British Empire?    Yeah. But when youâre between 20 and 23, there are bound to be some criticisms.    How will you solve the Vietnam War?    Give it back to whoever deserves it.    Whatâs your latest song?    âPhilippine Blues.â    Mr. Lennon, what did you mean by Spaniard in your latest book?    Have you read it?    No.    Then read it.    If there should come a time when you have to choose between the Beatles and your family, whom would you choose?    We never let our families come between us.    What is your favorite song?    âGod Save the King.â    But itâs the Queen now.    âGod Save the Queenâ then.    What will you be doing ten years from now?    Why bother about ten years from now? We donât even know if weâll be around tomorrow.
ON THE EVE of July 4, Philippine-American Friendship Day, President Ferdinand Marcos urged Filipinos to ârecall the lasting and valuable friendship between America and the Philippinesâ and issued a statement saying a revamp of the government bureaucracy was imminent. âHeads Will Roll!â the dailies shrilled, their bold prediction thrust audaciously by homeless street children against car windows along Highway 54. At the Quirino Grandstand the next day, the President sat in the sweltering heat as troops paraded before him. Three stations covered the Friendship Day rites, but Channel 5 ignored it completely, running instead a 24-hour update on the Beatles. Marcos seethed on the grandstand, and cameras caught the expression on his face that might have said: Damned Trillos, they really get my goat. The Trillos owned the Manila Times and many broadcast stations and refused to accommodate the First Familyâs whims. But Marcos had the last laugh. On this very afternoon, back at the Palace, Imelda and the children would be having lunch with the Beatles. All television stations and newspapers had been invited for a five-minute photo opportunityâall, that is, except the Trillo network. Marcos tried to stifle a smirk as he saluted the troops. Proud and dignified in his white suit, he stood out like some sartorial titan: people said you could tell he was going in for a second term.
CALLA LILIES were brought in at nine by Emma Fernandez, one of the Blue Ladies, so-called because Imelda Marcos had them wear nothing but blue. The flowers adorned the corridors of the palace all the way to the formal dining hall, where about a hundred youngsters, ages three to fifteen, listlessly waited for the Beatles. Imee, the eldest of the Marcos children, sporting a new bobcut hairdo, sat at the head of the table. Her younger sister Irene sat beside her, reticent and uncomfortable in Sunday clothes. Ferdinand Junior, master Bongbong to one and all, was wearing a bowtie and a starched cotton shirt, and his attire apparently made him restless, as he kept sliding off his seat to pace the floor. Around them were children of ministers, generals, business tycoons, and friends of the family, sitting under buntings of red, white, and blue and paper flags of the United States and the Philippines. Â Â Â Imelda Marcos walked in at exactly eleven. Emma Fernandez approached her, wringing her hands, and whispered in her ear: âTheyâre late!â Imelda brushed her off, an imperceptible smile parting her lips. She kissed the children one by one, Imee dodging and receiving instead a red smear on the ear. She inspected the cutlery, the lilies, the nameplates: two Râs each for Harrison and Starr, check; two Nâs for Lennon; and no A in Mc. She scanned the room proudly, deflecting the grateful, expectant faces, the small fingers clutching cardboard tickets to the concert. Â Â Â At half past eleven the children began complaining, so breadsticks and some juice were served. Imelda walked around the hall, stopping to strike a pose for the palace photographers. âGood shot, Madame!â The photographers were the best in the field, plucked out of the newsrooms to accompany her on all her itineraries. They had been sufficiently instructed on which angle to shoot from and which side to take, and anyone who took the wrong shot was dismissed posthaste, his camera and negatives confiscated. The children were more difficult to shoot: bratty and impatient, they always came out pouting, with their chins stuck out. It was always best to avoid them. Â Â Â Unknown to this gathering, a commotion was going on at the lobby of the Manila Hotel. On hand were Brian Epstein and members of the concert crew; Colonel Justin Flores and Captain Nilo Cunanan of the Philippine Constabulary; Sonny Balatbat, the teenage son of Secretary of State Roberto Balatbat; Captain Fred Santos of the Presidential Guard; Major Tommy Young and Colonel Efren Morales of the Manila Police District; and local promoter Rene Amos. Â Â Â âWe had an agreement,â Colonel Flores was saying. âWe sent a telegram to Tokyo.â Â Â Â âI donât know about any fucking telegram,â Epstein replied. Â Â Â âThe First Lady and the children have been waiting all morning.â Â Â Â âNobody told them to wait.â Â Â Â âThe First Lady will be very, very disappointed.â Â Â Â Brian Epstein looked the colonel in the eye and said, âIf they want to see the Beatles, let them come here.â Â Â Â At the stroke of noon, Imelda Marcos rose from her chair and walked out of the dining hall. âThe children can wait,â she said, âbut I have more important things to do.â Â Â Â As soon as she was gone, Imee pushed back her chair, fished out her ticket, and tore it in two. The other children followed, and for a few seconds there was no sound in the hall but the sound of tickets being torn. Bongbong hovered near the plate that had been reserved for John Lennon. âI really much prefer the Rolling Stones,â he said. Photographers caught the young master at that moment, his eyes wide and blank. Imee looked at him and remarked, âThe only Beatles song I liked was âRun for Your Life.ââ She looked around the hall defiantly. She had never been so embarrassed in her life. People always said that among the three Marcos children, she was the sensitive one. That morning she seemed she was about to cry.
   The Beatles: Mass Hysteria!    By Jun Hidalgo
   Eighty thousand hysterical fans cramped into Rizal Memorial Stadium to watch the Beatles, the largest crowd Manila has seen since the Elorde-Ortiz boxing match in the same stadium.    While traffic snarled to a standstill along Dakota Street, 720 policemen, 35 special detectives and the entire contingent of the Manila Fire Department stood guard as the Liverpool quartet performed their hits before thousands of cheering and screaming fans, many of whom had waited to get inside the stadium since early morningâŠ
WHEN THE GATES finally opened, all hell broke loose. I held on to Delphi, who held on to Jun, and the three of us braved the onslaught as we squeezed past security and found ourselves, miraculously intact, on the front row beside the Vox speakers. Â Â Â âI donât want to sit here,â Delphi protested. âWeâre going to blast our ears off!â Â Â Â âRelax,â Jun said. âEverybodyâll be screaming anyway. We have the best seats in the house.â Â Â Â Everyone in the stadium was a mophead, except the Vietnam volunteers sitting in our row, whose heads had been cleanly shaved. They were young men plucked from the provinces, and many of them were never coming home again. I was so relieved I had grown my hair longer that summer. My hair was a clear sign that, despite my young age, I had gained honorary membership in the exclusive cabal of this generation. You could tell who the pigs were: they were the ones who roamed around, their ears pink and their heads shaved clean like the Vietnam volunteers. Some of them had guns under into their belts; they had been warned that a riot could break out.
   âŠSoaked in sweat, Beatles fans impatiently heckled the opening acts, and emcees had to threaten the crowd that the Beatles would not perform until the audience simmered down.
And when the Beatles finally opened with âI Wanna Be Your Man,â you could feel the excitement ripping through you, a detonation of such magnitude your entire being seemed to explode. I couldnât hear anything except a long, extended shrillâthe whole stadium screaming its lungs out. I looked at Delphi. She was holding her head between her hands and her eyes were bulging out and her mouth was stretched to an 0, and all I could hear was this long, high-pitched scream coming out of her mouth. I had never seen Delphi like that before, and I would never, for the rest of her life, see her as remorselessly young as she was that afternoon.
THE MORNING AFTER the concert, Jun asked Delphi if we could take the Ford to Manila Hotel. Â Â Â âWhy do you have to take us along?â Delphi asked him. It was clear that for her the concert had been the high point of our adventure. Â Â Â âWe still have to get that interview, donât we?â Jun reminded her. âBesides,â he added, âI need you to cover for me,â Jun said. Â Â Â âCover?â asked Delphi. âAs in war?â Â Â Â âLooks like war itâs going to be,â said Jun. Â Â Â Jun had bribed someone from room service to let him take a snack to the Beatles. I was going to pose as a bellhop. Delphi was going to be a chambermaid. Apparently our plan was to swoop down on them in the name of impeccable service, with Jun secretly recording this invasion with the help of a pocket-sized tape recorder. As usual, he had the uniforms ready, rented for the day for half his monthâs wages. âThe hotel laundry boyâs a childhood friend of mine.â Â Â Â âYouâre the company you keep,â Delphi teased him, because she knew it tortured him whenever she did that. Â Â Â I wore the monkey suit perfectly, but somehow it still didnât feel right. I looked at myself in the menâs room mirror and knew I was too young for the role. And Delphi looked incongruous as the chambermaid: her bob cut was too in. Â Â Â As it turned out, all my misgivings would be proven true. We crossed the lobby to the service elevator. Jun walked several paces ahead of us, nonchalantly jiggling the car keys, but I kept glancing nervously around. Â Â Â âHoy, where you going?â Â Â Â Jun didnât seem to hear the house detective call us, or maybe the detective didnât notice him walking past. I felt a hand grab my collar and pull me aside. Immediately, Delphi was all over the detective, hitting him with her fists: âYou take your hands off my brother or Iâll kick your teeth in!â Struggling out of the detectiveâs chokehold, I could see Jun hesitating by the elevator. I motioned for him to go. The detective dragged Delphi and me out to a backroom where several other detectives were playing poker. âOy, got two more right here!â
AS HE RECALLED LATER, Jun wheeled the tray into Suite 402 expecting to find telltale debris of a post-concert party (and hence an excuse for us to mop up). What he came upon was something less festive. Â Â Â âCompliments of the house, sir,â he announced cheerfully as he came in. Â Â Â George Harrison and Brian Epstein were sitting on the sofa, and Paul McCartney was precariously perched on the TV set, brooding. The three of them apparently had been having an argument and they all looked up, surprised, at the intruder. Â Â Â âAll right,â Epstein said, curtly. âBring it in.â Â Â Â âIâll have to mix the dip here, sir,â Jun said, to prolong the intrusion. âHouse specialty.â Â Â Â Nobody seemed to hear him. George Harrison continued the conversation, âWe came here to sing. We didnât come here to drink tea and shake hands.â Â Â Â âThatâs precisely the reason weâve got to pay customs the bond for the equipment,â said Epstein. Â Â Â âLet them keep the money then,â Paul said. âEveryone says here come those rich mopheads to make more money. We donât care about the money.â Â Â Â âWe didnât even want to come here,â George reminded them. Â Â Â âThe only reason we came here,â added Paul, âwas because these people were always saying why donât you come over here? We didnât want to offend anyone, did we? We just came here to sing. You there,â indicating Jun, who jumped with surprise. âDo you speak English?â Â Â Â âFairly well,â replied Jun. Â Â Â âDoes the government control the press here, as they do the customs people, the airport managers, and the police?â Â Â Â âNot yet,â said Jun. Â Â Â Paul then observed that everything was âso American in this country, itâs eerie, man!â He also remarked that many people were exploited by a wealthy and powerful few. Epstein wanted to know how he knew that, as the others had simply not heard of the country before, and Paul replied that he had been reading one of the local papers. Â Â Â âWhat are we supposed to do?â he asked. âShow up and say, âWell, here we are, weâre sorry weâre late!â We werenât supposed to be here in the first place. Why should we apologize for something thatâs not our fault?â Â Â Â At that point John Lennon and Ringo Starr, who had been booked in the adjacent suite, walked in. Ringo, sweating and tousled, plopped into the sofa between Epstein and George Harrison. John Lennon, wearing his dark glasses, walked straight to the window and looked out. âWeâve got a few things to learn about the Philippines, lads,â he said. âFirst of all is how to get out.â
THE MANILA HOTEL DETECTIVES deftly disposed of Delphi and me with a push via the back door, where a sign said THROUGH THIS DOOR PASS THE MOST COURTEOUS EMPLOYEES OF MANILA. Â Â Â We walked back to the Ford in the parking lot and waited for less than an hour when Jun, struggling out of the hotel uniform and back to mufti, sprinted toward us and hopped into the driverâs seat. âGet in!â he shouted. âWeâre going to the airport!â Â Â Â âDid you get the interview?â Delphi asked. Â Â Â âBetter,â Jun said. âThe Beatles are going to try to leave this afternoon. Theyâre paying something like forty-five thousand dollars as a bond or something. Customs is charging them so much money in taxes for the concert.â Â Â Â âWait a minute,â Delphi protested. âIs that legal?â Â Â Â âWho cares?â Jun said. âAll I know is theyâre paying the bond and now all they want to do is to get out. But they think somethingâs going to happen at the airport. Thereâs been talk of arrest and detention.â Â Â Â âWho said that?â Delphi asked. Â Â Â âJohn Lennon, I think. I donât know. I was mixing that stupid dip.â Â Â Â We were driving toward the south highway now, past the mammoth hulls of ships docked at Manila Bay. âYou know all those people whoâve been trying to get the Beatles to go to the palace? You know why they were so keen on bringing the band over to Imeldaâs luncheon?â Â Â Â âCanât waste all that food, right?â Delphi said. Â Â Â âBright girl, but no. Thereâs going to be a major revamp soon. Itâs all over the papers, if youâve been paying attention. All these guys are going to get the top posts. Well, most of them were, until the Beatles screwed everything up.â Â Â Â âWhat guys? Who?â Â Â Â âThat Colonel Fred Santos, the one who led the group to talk to Epstein, heâs being groomed to head the Presidential Guard. Real heavy-duty position, accompanying the First Family all over the world, luxury apartment at the Palace, the works. Thereâs one Colonel Flores, Justin Flores I think, whoâs bound to be chief of the constabulary. Then thereâs Colonel Efren Morales, most likely head of the Manila Police.â Â Â Â âBut these are junior officers,â Delphi said. âMarcos canât just promote them to top posts.â Â Â Â âThatâs the point. Marcos is going to bypass everybody and build up an army of his own. All these new guys will be licking his boots and thereâs nothing the generals can do about it. That young mophead, the son of Balatbat, he was there for his father, whoâs going to be reappointed secretary of state. And if Iâm not mistaken, Salvador Roda, the airport manager, wants to take over customs. The manâs going to be a millionaire, kickbacks and all.â Â Â Â âHow do you know all that?â Delphi demanded. Â Â Â âHomework,â Jun said, swerving the car toward the airport, his reply drowned out by the droning of jets. âIâm the best damned reporter in the city, and everybodyâs going to find out why.â
SALVADOR RODA was briefing the press agitatedly at the VIP lounge of the airport that afternoon, explaining why the republic was withdrawing security for the Beatles and why customs had slapped a hundred-thousand-peso tax on Liverpudlian income. âToo much Filipino money wasted on such a paltry entourage, gentlemen of the press, and not one centavo of the profits going to the nation. Puta, that doesnât make sense, di ba?â Â Â Â We walked up the escalators to the second floor to change into our porter uniforms, which we had lugged in backpacks. Â Â Â âThis airport gets worse every time I come here,â Delphi complained. âNothingâs working.â Â Â Â âAnd thereâs nobody around,â observed Jun. The entire second floor was deserted. âLucky for us,â he said, pushing Delphi into the ladiesâ room and then pulling me into the adjoining gentsâ. We changed into the uniforms and stuffed our clothes above the water tanks. Â Â Â âYou think thereâs going to be trouble?â I asked Jun. Â Â Â âWill you guys back out if I told you there might?â Â Â Â I had to give that some thought. In the past Jun had taken Delphi and me on some insane adventures, mostly juvenile pranks that left us breathlessly exhilarated, but with no real sense of danger. For the first time I was afraid we were up against something, well, real. Â Â Â âWeâll stick around,â I said, tentatively. Â Â Â He put his arm around me and said, âKapatid! Thatâs my brother!â
JULY 5, 2 P.M. THE BEATLES arrived at the airport in a Manila Hotel taxi. They werenât wasting any time. They ran straight up the escalators, their crew lugging whatever equipment they could carry. At the foot of the escalators a group of womenâsociety matrons and young college girlsâhad managed to slip past the deserted security posts and, seeing the Beatles arrive, they lunged for the group, screaming and tearing at the bandâs clothes. Flashbulbs blinded the band as photographers crowded at the top of the stairs. It would have taken a miracle for the band to tear themselves away from the mob and to reach, as they did in a bedraggled way, the only booth open for passport clearance, where Roda had been waiting with the manifest for Flight CX 196. Â Â Â âBeatles here!â he hollered imperiously, and the band followed his voice meekly, almost contritely. Behind the booth a crowd that had checked in earlier restlessly ogled. Â Â Â âThose arenât passengers,â Jun observed as we stole past a booth. âThey look like the people we saw earlier with Roda.â Â Â Â âBeatles out!â Roda boomed. Â Â Â And then it happened. Â Â Â As the Beatles and their crew filed past the booth, the crowd that had been waiting there seemed to swell like a wave and engulfed the band, pulling them into an undertow of fists and knee jabs. There was a thudâEpstein falling groggily, then being dragged to his feet by security police. Someone was cursing in Tagalog: Hetoâng sa âyo bwakang inang putang inang tarantado ka! Take that you m*#f@%ing*@^*r!!! Paul McCartney surfaced for air, his chubby face crunched in unmistakable terror. He pulled away from the crowd, and the other three staggered behind him. Somebody gave Ringo Starr a loud whack on the shoulder and pulled at John Lennon, who yanked his arm away, tearing his coat sleeve. Â Â Â That was when we started running after themâthe three of us, and the whole mob. Â Â Â The crowd overtook Delphi, who was shoved aside brusquely. They were inching in on me when the exit doors flew open into the searing afternoon. From the view deck hundreds of fans who had been waiting for hours started screaming. The band clambered up the plane. I kept my eye on the plane, where Jun was already catching up with John Lennon. Â Â Â âPlease, Mr. Lennon,â he pleaded. âLet me help you with your bags!â Â Â Â At the foot of the stairs a panting John Lennon turned to him and said, âA friendly soul, for a change. Thanks, but weâre leaving.â Â Â Â âIâm sorry,â Jun said, trembling. Â Â Â John Lennon bolted up the stairs. At the top he stopped and took off his coat and threw it down to Jun. Â Â Â âHere,â he said. âTell your friends the Beatles gave it to you.â
A FEW WEEKS after the Beatlesâ frantic egress from Manila, Taal Volcano erupted, perhaps by way of divine castigation, as happens often in this inscrutable, illogical archipelago. The eruption buried three towns and shrouded Manila in sulfuric ash for days. A month later a lake emerged from what had been the volcanoâs craterâa boiling, putrefied, honey-yellow liquefaction. Â Â Â The Beatles flew to New Delhi, where they were to encounter two figures that would change their lives and music: the corpulent, swaying Maharishi, and the droning, mesmerizing sitar. Back in London later, a swarm of fans greeted them carrying placards with mostly one message:
SOD MANILA!
   Manilaâs columnists took umbrage, and the side of the offended First Lady. Said Teodoro Valencia, who would later become the spokesman of the Marcos press: âThose Beatles are knights of the Crown of England. Now we have a more realistic understanding of what knights are. Theyâre snobs. But we are probably more to blame than the Beatles. We gave them too much importance.â And columnist Joe Guevarra added: âWhat if 80,000 people saw the Beatles? Theyâre too young to vote against Marcos anyway!â    Imelda Marcos later announced to the lavishly sympathetic press that the incident âwas regrettable. This has been a breach of Filipino hospitality.â She added that when she heard of a plot to maul the Beatles, she herself asked her brother, the tourism secretary, to make sure the Beatles got out of the airport safely.    But her magnanimity did little to lessen the outrage. The Manila Bulletin declared that Malacañang Palace had received no less than two hundred letters denouncing the Beatles by that weekend. Manila councilor Gerino Tolentino proposed that the Beatles âshould be banned from the city in perpetuity.â Caloocan City passed an ordinance prohibiting the sale, display, and playing of Beatles records. And Quezon City passed a law declaring the Beatlesâ music satanic and the mophead hairstyle illegal.    Jun Hidalgo wrote his story about the Beatlesâ departure, with insider quotes taped, as an editorâs introduction to the story revealed, âwhile undercover as a hotel employee.â A few weeks later he was accepted into the Manila Times, where he played rookie, as was the custom then, in the snake pit of the local press: the police beat. He gave John Lennonâs coat to Delphi, who dutifully mended the sleeve, and they went steady for a while. But like most youthful relationships, the series of melodramatic misunderstandings, periodic separations, and predictable reunions finally ended in tears, and many unprintable words. My sister, older and more healthily cynical, later immigrated to the United States, from where she sent me postcards and booksâand once, a note replying to one of my continuous requests for records, saying she had lost interest in the Beatles when they went psychedelic. I myself, being the obligatory late bloomer, only then began to appreciate the magical, mysterious orchestrations and raga-like trances of the band.    Delphi left John Lennonâs coat with me, and I became known in school as the keeper of a holy relic. Like the martyrs, I was the object of much admiration and also much envy. One afternoon, armed with a copy of an ordinance recently passed in Manila, directors of the school rounded up several mophead boys, including myself. In one vacant classroom we were made to sit on hardboard chairs as the directors snipped our hair. I sat stolidly under the scissors, watching my hair fall in clutches on the bare cement floor.    Back in my room that evening, I stared at myself in the mirror for a long time. Then I folded John Lennonâs jacket tightly, stuffed it in a box, and tucked it under my books and clothes. I felt no bitterness at all. I knew that something irrevocable in my life had ended.














