F4 stars leave immediately for Taiwan

Taiwanese pop stars Ken Zhu and Vaness Wu, two members of the popular group F4, and Barbie Xu, who plays the role of San Cai in the hit telenovela Meteor Garden were the last passengers to board China Airlines flight No. Cl-632 bound for Taipei, Taiwan at 11:15 a.m. yesterday.

Tight security preparations kept members of the media, fans, security personnel of Meteor Garden guessing the time and departure flight of the three pop stars at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 yesterday morning.

China Airlines personnel told The STAR that the stars arrived at about 11:14 a.m., a minute before departure time.

"The plane would not have waited for them had they been late. They were the last people to board the plane and the tube was immediately disconnected from the doorway to allow the plane to take off," an airline staff said.

Percival Salvador, an airport police officer, told The STAR they too were kept in the dark on the security arrangements for the singer-actors from Taiwan. About 40 airport policemen were stationed at the tarmac to secure the stairs leading to the airplane.

"We were surprised when Zhu, Wu, Xu and their entourage used the elevator then passed through the tube of Gate 16 of the departure area. There were only two security personnel near the tube, because we didn’t know they were going that way. Very few people knew they were coming, so there was no pandemonium," Salvador said.

The people in charge of their security changed their strategy yesterday.

When Zhu and Wu arrived last Friday afternoon, people were expecting them to pass through proper channels or appear at the arrival station at the second floor of NAIA Terminal 1, but instead they were ushered down the stairs at the tarmac where a van was waiting for them.

The Taiwanese stars came to Manila to hold a one-night concert at the Ultra last Saturday evening.