The idea of mounting a tribute show for Francis Magalona seemed good. But the project was "preempted" by word of mouth and by PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal). And now the organizers want to pull things out of the fire, appealing to the public: "We just want to help."

Last March 17, a First-Read-on-PEP item, titled "Francis M 'tribute concerts' in Canada and Dubai do not have his family's blessing," created a cloud of doubt among PEPsters.

If they wanted to help, why didn't they do it when Kiko was still alive? Why didn't they find a way to tell Pia? Why would they direct the proceeds to "Francis M foundation" and the "Philippine Red Cross" and not inform the widow of the late host-rapper?

Plus, the article elicited two schools of thought:

(1) Either they really intended to align their plans but communication glitches prevented the message from reaching Pia Arroyo-Magalona on time;

(2) Or, as mentioned in the Facebook posts of Kiko's widow, the motive was partly to capitalize on the death of the King of Pinoy Rap.

At press time, PEPsters were more inclined to believe in the former. The family of the rap music icon had expressed disappointment on these unmerited "tribute shows."

Here's the latest update: The "Dubai concert" organizers apologize to the wife of Francis, and air their side of the story.

MARCH 17 POST IN FACEBOOK. A "concerned citizen" related to us that a few hours after the article was put out in PEP, a certain "GCC," who is believed to be one of the people involved in the Dubai tribute concert, got in touch with Pia via Facebook. She managed to get a copy of the "apologetic" message for PEP.

In a gist, GCC thanked Francis Magalona for inspiring them. "Lahat ng hip hop world, mga djs, and lahat ng local artist dito nagsama-sama para pasalamatan si Kiko," he began.

He stressed that the group has no bad intention, and that they really planned to tell Pia about the plans to mount a show for Francis and PNRC (Philippine National Red Cross).

GCC continued, "Sabi ko sa dj [a "katropa" of Francis] kung pwede mahingi ko yung email mo at number kasi hihingin namin yung bank account mo at may kausap na kami na money transfer dito para ibigay lahat ng sale ng ticket sa iyo, pia."

Lastly, he mentioned that generating revenue from the tribute concert was never their motive.

According to him, "Dito malaki sweldo namin, di namin kailangan ng pera. Naglabas pa kami ng pera para sa gagastuin namin sa event at lahat ng local artist, free will sila. Sana makausap kita at we have a good intention about it."

MARCH 18 POST IN PEP's COMMENTS COLUMN. Yesterday, a user who was registered as "pilipinas777" posted this message (published as is):