MANILA, Philippines – It was game over for 8 scalpers on Sunday, December 3, as the Philippine National Police (PNP) nabbed them for selling overpriced tickets to the UAAP Season 80 Finals Game 3 between archrivals Ateneo Blue Eagles and De La Salle Green Archers.

The scalpers – two cops and 6 civilians.

Police captured the group with tickets worth a total of P3,500. They were planning to sell the tickets for P22,500 – around a 540% increase. (READ: Ateneo Blue Eagles are UAAP Season 80 champions)

It’s common for scalpers to sell UAAP tickets, especially for extremely popular basketball games like Ateneo-La Salle matches.

The arrested policemen were SPO4 Renaldo Frias and SPO4 Rudy Bala, both Quezon City Police District (QCPD) cops assigned near the Smart Araneta Coliseum on game day.

According to QCPD Director Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar, the two policemen had been moonlighting as scalpers even before the championship.

The civilians were identified as Romeo Panopio, Artemio Comon, Armel Mercado, Maximino Dayandante, Michael Segismundo, and Faustino Valenzuela.

Police captured them through an entrapment operation after receiving information from a concerned citizen about a “group” engaged in the illegal selling of tickets for UAAP games.

It turned out that two members of the group were the QCPD’s own men.

All 8 were charged with violation of the Quezon City Anti-Scalping Ordinance. – Rappler.com