In anticipation of the upcoming ticket selling for the highly anticipated concert of a major Pinoy pop band this April, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan reminded relevant government authorities, event organizers, and ticket-selling platforms to implement stricter measures against ticket scalping and protect Filipino fans from exploitative practices.

As excitement builds among supporters for the group’s major concert event, concerns have likewise surfaced regarding the potential proliferation of scalpers who purchase tickets in bulk and resell them at significantly inflated prices. 

“Scalping undermines fair access to entertainment events. These practices burden and exploit fans as scalpers and those behind these nefarious activities seek excessive profit,” the senator said.

“We urge relevant government agencies, event organizers, and ticket-selling platforms to strengthen safeguards that prevent hoarding and unauthorized resale of tickets and to act decisively to ensure that tickets reach the rightful concertgoers at the official price,” he added. 

Earlier this week, the senator led a joint committee hearing for his proposed Senate Bill No. 226, or the “Anti-Ticket Scalping Act," which aims to serve as a national law to explicitly ban ticket scalping. During the hearing, he challenged the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to “make an example” of ticket scalpers by using the Cybercrime Prevention Act against individuals and groups using automated bots to hoard concert tickets for later resale at exorbitant prices. 

This comes amid mounting public frustration over the rapid sell-out of major concert events, with many fans reporting that tickets are snapped up within minutes—only to reappear online at significantly inflated prices.The issue of ticket scalping has taken over social media, especially as major local and foreign acts hold concerts in the country.