Philippine Football Federation president Mariano Araneta yesterday apologized for the failure of PFF to distribute the promised free tickets for the football match between the Philippine Azkals and the Mongolian national team at the Panaad Sports Stadium in Bacolod City on Wednesday.

“I apologize for the miscommunication,” he said.

The PFF did not distribute the free tickets at the Panaad on the day of the game because match commissioner ER Subramaniam of Malaysia did not allow it. He did not want the Panaad to be too full of people early,  on the day of the match for security reasons, Araneta said.

Araneta also said those who purchased P300 tickets but were unable to get into the stadium Wednesday night will be refunded by the PFF.

Those seeking refunds for their unused P300 tickets can go to the PFF in Manila and local organizer Red Avelino will be instructed to set up a system for refunding those from Bacolod, he said.

The tickets and payment receipts will have to be presented to avail of the refunds, he added.

But Araneta said he did not know who were behind the sale of the free admission tickets outside the stadium.

The Azkals won 2-0 over the Mongolians before a cheering of crowd of about 20,000.

FREE TICKETS SOLD

Thousands of football fans, some from as far as Manila and Cebu, lined up outside the Panaad Sports Stadium early Wednesday for the promised PFF distribution of free tickets but failed to get any.

Instead scalpers were seen selling free admission tickets, while many of those who bought the officially sold P300 tickets were unable to get into the crowded stadium.

Senior Supt. Allan Guisihan, Negros Occidental police director, yesterday said some people were reported to be selling the free tickets outside the stadium for P300 earlier in the day for as high as P1,000 at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

He said the police caught four people selling the free admission tickets, but they were released later.

Supt. Jefferson Descallar, police ground commander at the football match, identified those arrested for the illegal sale of free tickets as Cyrus Cortez, 33, of Singcang, and Raymon Contega, 32, of Barangay 21, both in Bacolod City.

There were others also caught but no police blotters were recorded because the instruction of the PFF was “not to effect the arrest but to confiscate the tickets,” Descallar said, adding that they recovered 10 tickets.

Next time the police will use marked money to purchase free tickets from such people so they will have proof to press charges, Guisihan said.

He lauded the football fans at the stadium for being very disciplined as that helped prevent any untoward incidents from taking place.

“We have shown that, as a community, we are a disciplined people,” Guisahan said of the Negrenses at the match.

But some pickpocketting incidents were reported during the game, he said.

AT THE CAPITOL

Meanwhile, some teenagers told Bombo Radyo that a male person at the provincial Capitol sold them free admission tickets for P100 each.

Mate Espina, Executive Assistant 4 of Gov. Alfredo Marañon, yesterday said they are urging the teenagers to file formal complaints so the culprit can be pinpointed.

Of the 10,000 free admission tickets for the game Wednesday night, she said 3,000 were given to the governor by the PFF for distribution to the local government units of the province and to Capitol employees.

The 7,000 other free tickets were with the PFF and they do not know how they were distributed, she said.

It was the PFF that promised to distribute tickets at the Panaad Sports Stadium on the day of the match, it was pointed out.

She said the Capitol can account for the 3,000 tickets it distributed because people signed for the tickets they got.

The Capitol was also allotted 1,200 of the 4,000 tickets that were sold at P300 by the PFF, she said.

The tickets that the Capitol sold are also all accounted for, she said.

Of the 4,000 VIP tickets distributed, Espina also said that the governor was allotted only 200 by the PFF.

It is up to the PFF to say where the tickets in its possession went, Espina said.

AT THE PARK

Ian de Ramos, Panaad Park administrator, stressed that his office was not tasked to distribute the free tickets at the park on Wednesday, despite allegations from some people.

He said the Panaad personnel had nothing to do with the ticket distribution and sale as that was within the purview of the PFF.

He noted that, before the game started, the purple section of the bleachers at the park where holders of free admission tickets were to sit was not filled.

De Ramos said he did not know who had the tickets for that section and added that the waiting crowd outside were allowed into the area later.

Meanwhile, a Bacolod City Hall press release yesterday said Secretary to the Mayor Rodel Parcon flatly denied the insinuation of PFF Administration Officer Maja Paula Año that the city government received a significant number of tickets.*CPG

back to top