AlDub shatters records anew; logs 40M tweets

BOCAUE, Bulacan - Alden Richards and Maine “Yaya Dub” Mendoza, dubbed the split-screen sweethearts AlDub, finally got to interact freely - singing, dancing and holding hands - with the full blessing of resident gadfly Lola Nidora (played by Wally Bayola) in a special show called “Tamang Panahon” Right Time) held here on Saturday, Inquirer.net reported The “close encounter” was held at the 55,000-seater Philippine Arena, the biggest indoor arena in the world. When the special episode of the noontime show was announced last week, some critics cast doubts on the newbie couple’s ability to fill up the huge arena. As early as 6 a.m. on Saturday, however, fans, from as near as Marikina and as far as Quezon province, started flocking to the venue. By 9:30 a.m., the Arena was filled to the rafters. The mood in the Arena was electric. The crowd let out deafening cheers when Yaya Dub and Alden separately went up the stage. Yet, perhaps an even bigger feat the duo achieved were the 40 million tweets their hashtag #AlDubEBTamangPanahon garnered. This breaks their previous record of over 26 million tweets generated for their first date episode last September. Producers did not intend to make a killing via ticket sales, though. Proceeds would be allocated to a project which plans to build libraries in three schools in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. According to online reports, the three schools that will be given new libraries are Ongol Ilya Primary School, Tambacan Elementary School and Lumban Central Elementary School. The show’s hosts announced that P14 million has been raised for the project.