Hoarders of Beep cards face fine, imprisonment
Those buying more than two Beep cards at the same time may be arrested and charged with hoarding the stored value tickets for the Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT 3) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) Lines 1 and 2.
Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon made the announcement on Tuesday as he presented to media Cateleen Ann Dumondong Manalo, who was arrested last week for selling Beep cards online for P200 each, more than six times their actual price of P30 each.
She was apprehended in an entrapment operation conducted by members of the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group, which is working with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) in going after individuals hoarding and reselling Beep cards online.
“[T]here will be others who will be arrested in the coming days [or] months,” Dizon said. “Again, we are doing this not to shame people but to send a clear message to our countrymen who are abusing and taking advantage of their fellow Filipinos who just want to buy Beep cards.”
Instant apprehension
According to him, the DOTr would be installing CCTV cameras in train stations where hoarding usually takes place, and warned that individuals caught in the act would be apprehended “on the spot.”
Asked how many cards would qualify as hoarding, he said buying more than two at once would place the buyer under suspicion.
“So if I were them, I would think twice before doing this because they would be caught,” Dizon warned. “We have also released warnings in all MRT stations that if they are caught hoarding or selling [Beep cards] online, it is punishable by imprisonment and a very large fine.”
“We are very serious about this. We are not joking,” he said.
He noted that in the past months, there has been a shortage of Beep cards, particularly in LRT 1 and MRT 3.
Though he expected this to be addressed with the recent delivery of 300,000 Beep cards to all three train lines, Dizon lamented that some individuals were hoarding the cards and reselling them online at higher prices.
“We will not stop until we catch all of them. [Manalo] will also be imprisoned, especially if she doesn’t cooperate and reveal those working with her,” he said.
Dizon added that the DOTr would also write to online retail sites like Lazada, Shopee, TikTok, Facebook and Carousell, directing them to shut down merchants illegally selling Beep cards online.
He said that charges would be filed against them should they fail to comply.
