The UP crowd during the UAAP Finals Game 2. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Police heightened its efforts against ticket scalping on the wake of reports that tickets were hard to come by, even for players competing in the UAAP Finals. Enterprising scalpers, however, still found a way to profit off their illegal activities: Going online.
“Usually, we deploy around 50 members of the force,” police inspector Nolasco Sangangbayan said, but was quick to add that the number of cops was increased for Wednesday’s Game 2 between Ateneo and University of the Philippines was to ensure the safety of the spectators more than to clamp down on ticket scalping.
“There had been no reported cases [of scalping] yet,” Sangangbayan told the Inquirer in Filipino a couple of hours before tipoff.
The Inquirer tried to purchase tickets from scalpers around the venue but there were no sellers present. Their absence came at the heels of a crackdown by police in Game 1.
But that doesn’t mean tickets weren’t sold at inflated prices–they were simply sold elsewhere.
Admission rates hit a fever pitch Wednesday morning with patron seats being peddled at P7,500. Its original price was P450.
Tickets have not been available from online portal since Saturday, a representative at the Araneta Coliseum told the Inquirer. General Admission and Upper A tickets were eventually put on sale a couple of hours before tipoff.
For the other sections, a lot of tickets were resold online.
“I got mine through a friend who asked me to deposit via mobile banking,” Ally, who asked for her name to be withheld, told the Inquirer. “The electronic tickets set me back by P800 each.” Both tickets were for upper box B seats.
A die-hard fan who never missed a UP game, even during the Maroons’ doormat years, Ally revealed that she banked on the services of a scalper for Game 1 who sold her a ticket for a lower box seat amounting to P3,000.
“Some of my friends were not as fortunate,” she added.
Some of the athletes weren’t, too.
UP guard Paul Desiderio vented his frustration on Twitter Tuesday night, saying his family was unable to secure patron tickets for the match. A later development then revealed that a miscommunication transpired within the Maroons’ camp. The cager’s social media post has since been deleted.
Gabbi Dario, brother of Maroons guard Diego Dario, also shared his experience on social media, saying his family had to queue up for tickets only to settle for General Admission tickets.
“No we do not get tickets for free, [neither] does my brother hoard a lot to accommodate us,” he said. “Pare-pareho po tayong nagha-hanap. I don’t have extra!”
Game 1 drew 21,608 spectators with seats virtually filled with a handful politicians also in attendance. The title-clincher attracted 23,471 fans.
Around 270 members of the Quezon City Police District—some in uniform, others in plainclothes—were deployed around the Big Dome