Senator Francis Pangilinan on Friday urged authorities, event organizers, and ticketing platforms to intensify efforts against scalpers ahead of the April concert of Filipino pop group SB19.
Pangilinan said stronger safeguards are needed as anticipation builds for the group’s major show and concerns grow over scalpers who buy tickets in bulk and resell them at significantly inflated prices.
Tickets for SB19’s “Wakas at Simula: The Trilogy Concert Finale,” scheduled for April 18, will go on pre-sale on Feb. 27 and general sale on Feb. 28.
“Scalping undermines fair access to entertainment events. These practices burden and exploit fans as scalpers and those behind these nefarious activities seek excessive profit,” he said.
Earlier this week, Pangilinan presided over a joint committee hearing on his proposed Senate Bill No. 226, or the Anti-Ticket Scalping Act, which seeks to establish a nationwide ban on ticket scalping.
During the hearing, he urged the National Bureau of Investigation to go after scalpers under Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, particularly those using automated bots to hoard tickets for resale at excessive prices.
In the bill’s explanatory note, Pangilinan cited a Visa study showing that the Philippines ranks fourth among top concert spenders in the Asia-Pacific region, with 38 percent of Filipinos attending concerts in the past year, behind India, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
He said current laws on ticket scalping are fragmented, with enforcement spread across local ordinances, consumer protection regulations, fraud provisions under the Revised Penal Code, and e-commerce and cybercrime statutes, leading to inconsistent implementation.
“This proposed legislation will serve as a comprehensive national law explicitly banning ticket scalping. It aims to define and prohibit ticket scalping, impose stringent penalties to combat this practice, and ensure fair access of Filipinos to live events,” Pangilinan said.
