"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 tabloid's first head office was located at the manila times compound in sgt. santiago, laging handa, quezon city but it was relocated to the old basement of robinson's supermarket in edsa-pioneer, mandaluyong. english language are primarily used in its articles until they shifted to full tagalog in the 2000s.