What UAAP Cheerdance Competition can do…

For the first time in years, I got my tickets in advance. That is, after spending 7 hours in line. Yep, 7 hours just for two Upper Box B tickets.

Backstory: My best friends and I are fans of UAAP Cheering Competition. Last year, my bestfriend (who is a part of the volleyball team) was only able to get one ticket from UPD. We needed three. So we decided to go on an adventure and went to Araneta Center at 4am (on the day of competition) to get tickets.

Long line is long at 4am. To think that tickets will be released at 9am. By 6am, Araneta was crowded and people were starting to get impatient. It was hot, and some people cut in line every now and then.

By 8am, people were really agitated. No guards, no organizers. Just us fans waiting to get tickets. Nearby, a scalper was trying to sell tickets for insane prices.

About an hour before the booths open, guards show up, trying to organize the line. Then something bad happens. They opened a second ticket booth IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LINE. People started panicking (earlybirds were irritated because those who came in late will ba able to get good tickets) and the guards started to get pretty violent. Everyone started to rush towards the ticket booth.

The guards were prying people off the line, saying they just cut in. One guard happened to look at me and he tried to pull me out of the line, saying that I just cut in line. My bestfriend held on to me while I tried to push him off. Hindi ako sumisingit, pumila ako ng 4am para dito! I said. Still, he kept on pulling me off the line like a ragdoll. I screamed. I couldn’t breathe. He didn’t stop pulling me until my bestfriend screamed that I had asthma. 

This year, to avoid  the incident, we decided to go there at 2am. Aaand, there were already 30+ people in line, waiting. Take note that around 10 of these people were obviously scalpers. For some reason, the universe made us line-up right behind these scalpers. How did we know they were scalpers? Aside from looks, they don’t know what UAAP cheerdance competition is.

We have 7 hours, so we played Pinoy Henyo, talked about random stuff, and chatted with fellow fans to keep ourselves awake.

At around 6, this  guy suddenly appeared and sat with the scalper group. The, he started talking to the people in line. Fishy fishy fishy. He even talked to us and said that their group were there for the Ateneo-FEU game. Blah blah blah. I know you’re buying cheerdance tickets.

Guards set up ropes to arrange the line at around 8am. Then, more people showed up, claiming to be a part of the scalper group. WTF.This is when it gets tense. Some people were trying to cut in in front of us. Fuck.Two scalper girls were talking to the guard nearby.

Booths finally opened at 9. All of a sudden, these scalpers fished out Ateneo, UP, and other IDs. Ang ganda naman ng family tree nyo, puro Big Four.

We were almost inside when this guard let a scalper cut in. Sya mismo ang nagpausod sa tao para papilahin yung scalper.  THEN, this scalper got a girl from UST who came in at around 7am. Kasama daw nya yun. Of course, people got mad and shouted at them. The guard just shrugged us off and continued with his business. Obviously, binayaran sya ni UST girl para makapila sya. UST girl, mahiya ka naman. You’re an educated person. People spent hours and hours just to get a ticket.

Inside, UST girl’s friend (someone told us she’s from UP) was asking the guard if she can get in since her friend’s inside. Aba, papayag ang guard! People were not pleased and everyone shouted at them. The guard then asked for the girl’s ID and money, then handed it to the UST girl. Fuck.

I remember another guard tell a scalper girl: “Miss, mahilig din pala kayo sa cheering competition!” (sarcastic). Lol, I like that.

We noticed that those people who were first in line got A LOT of tickets. Hoard much? Kala ko ba two tickets per person lang? So instead of getting Upper Box A tickets, we got Upper B.

A few minutes later, scalpers started selling tickets.

To Araneta Center, please be vigilant with these scalpers. As far as I know, scalpers are illegal. Also, please check on your security people. Sila pa ang kumukunsinti sa scalpers.