2015, September 10. Bandera National Daily Tabloid, 25th Anniversary
Litho Offset, Amstar Company, Inc., Perf 14
Singles (Jumbo size), Sheets of 40
15p Flying Balloon - Singles (101,000)
Layout Artist: Victorino Z. Serevo
Stamp Design: Winning entry in the joint Phlpost & Bandera Stamp Design Contest with the theme "Bandera, hindi lang basta tabloid" ("Bandera, Not just a tabloid!")
First Day Covers: Manila
Bandera - Daily Newspaper Tabloid - 25th Anniversary
Bandera (first named as Metro Times) was first published on September 10, 1990, a brainchild of three Manila Times journalists Ralph Chekeh, Danny Mariano and Ricky Agcaoili with Lito Bautista as the pioneering managing editor (up to his retirement in 2014). It was then the sister newspaper of Manila Times under the Gokongwei family who acquired the broadsheet in 1989 from the Roces empire. The first headquarters of Bandera was located at the Manila Times Compound in Sgt. Santiago, Laging Handa, Quezon City and then relocated to the old basement of Robinson's Supermarket in EDSA-Pioneer, Mandaluyong. English is the primary language for the articles until they shifted to Tagalog in 2000s.
Regular readers of Bandera then called the tabloid as part of x-rated tabloids at the time due to the appearance of Rosanna Roces as the Page 3 girl, Margie Holmes (who was a Palanca awardee) and Andromeda's Erotika columns; moralists criticized Bandera for being obscene and vulgar publication, that led to dozens of libel cases filed and an investigation by the Mandaluyong City Council. Lotto results and analysis and horse racing tips are some of the favorite parts of the tabloid. It also had a "more daring" sister tabloids, Bandera PM, Bandera Tonight. It also branched out to Bandera International Edition, published in Hong Kong and the Middle East.
In 2000, the Prieto family acquired Bandera from the Gokongweis. It underwent smooth transition from a "mature" and "sexy" content publication to the "wholesome" image it now enjoys. Bandera now has three separate editions, one each for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It underwent experimenting new concepts, such as Compact newspaper (combination of broadsheet and tabloid without crime reports and skimpy women on frontpage) and Klik Bandera, which is the special weekend edition dedicated to showbiz news. Full copy of Bandera issues can be seen online, through their official website. It also maintains strong facebook and twitter presence.
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