VALLEJO, California ? Concerned Filipinos met in Vallejo, California last Saturday to discuss the chaos that erupted following Manny Pacquaio?s meet-and-greet and concert last November 17 at the Hiddenbrooke Golf Club.
What started out as a fun night turned ugly when some fans got angry and demanded refunds for their $150-$200 tickets because they did not get the chance to have a one-on-one picture taken with the 8th time world boxing champion.
Days before the concert, Irene Sunga-Bernabe said she was approached by a friend, Menchi Cortes of AGMC Productions, one of the producers of the event, to help sell 125 tickets.
Sunga-Bernabe then approached her father, Vallejo Councilman Hermie Sunga, who also chairs the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Solano County, for help.
?They want to do it for the City of Vallejo. We needed something as good as this for the City of Vallejo to happen,? said Sunga.
Volunteer Lawrence Briones said he was tasked to compose and print the tickets which are now at the center of the controversy. The stubs, handed out to ticket-holders, contained a line that said, ?Good for one official Manny Pacquaio Photo: Keep this ticket to redeem your photo?.
Some fans showed the tickets to organizers during the event, demanding their one-on-one time with Pacquaio. But Pacquaio left shortly after the concert, which caused these fans to demand refunds.
Briones claimed that the ticket was authorized and approved by Pia Pena of Prime Media Unlimited, main promoter of the event.
Briones said, ?It never stated that it was a photo with Manny Pacquiao. It’s just ?good for one official Pacquaio photo.?
But Pena denied authorizing and approving the ticket. Pena sent Balitang America an email she sent to all groups involved in the production, dated November 18 at 11:08 a.m. which read, ?Can someone please tell me who have authorized the release of a ticket stating: ?Good for One Official Manny Pacquaio Photo? I did not authorize this and will need to know ASAP!?
Briones reportedly replied at 11:16 a.m. the same day, saying, ?It was I, Lawrence? and that he paid $250 for the tickets to be printed.
Some of these disgruntled fans pointed out that the ticket, along with the poster of the event circulated on the web ? guaranteed their exclusive one-on-time time with the champ.
The poster in question highlighted an exclusive meet-and-greet with Pacquaio and an exclusive autobiography book-signing for the $150 ticket.
Briones said that ticket was created by the promotions company, 600 LBS, which sold Pacquiao?s autobiography during the event.
Sione Tangen of 600 LBS said that poster was authorized and approved by Prime Media.
Pena confirmed this but said the poster does not really guarantee that fans would have a one-on-one time with the boxing champ.
Meantime, Sunga-Bernabe and her group said all they did was help in the event ? and should not be blamed for any complaints. She said, ?We were volunteers. None of us, including the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce, earned any monetary gain from this. All checks were written to Prime Media Unlimited and all the money has been surrendered to Prime Media.?
Pena said that as of press time, not all of the checks and cash have been remitted to her by Sunga-Bernabe and volunteers from Vallejo. In fact, she said a stop payment has been issued on 2 checks worth $3,500.
As for the meeting last Saturday, Pena said that she neither knew about it nor was she invited to attend. ?If they want to clear issues with me, they should have met with me.?
While she?s thankful for the help given by the Filipino volunteers from Vallejo, Pena said she ended up with a bigger headache ? because they did not do their jobs well.
Besides, Pena said Sunga and his group benefited from the event. She pointed out, ?Councilman Sunga was the first to get his photo taken with Pacquaio.?
For their part, Tangen of 600 LBS said they already served Pena with a demand for a public apology last Friday ? for dragging their name into this mess.
Pena responded to Balitang America saying her lawyer is in the process of filing a counter demand for a public apology from 600 LBS.
Blogs from websites like www.boxingrepublic.com showed complaints from fans like Nowucme10 saying, ?Total scam and false advertisement!.? ?Duped in Vallejo? left a comment at www.topix.com saying, ?It looks like all the promoters are pointing fingers at each other. They have no problem taking our money before the event. After the event and the big snafu, the promoters are claiming they have nothing to do with it.?
While there are a number of angry fans ? these groups said that only a few had formally asked for a refund of the tickets. For now, Prime Media Unlimited said they are looking into who is responsible among the organizers ? to determine who needs to pay up.
600 LBS said they are willing to give refunds of $25 per book to fans who request for it. Balitang America
