Beauty queen-turned-actress Rabiya Mateo. Mateo/Instagram
Miss Universe Philippines 2020 Rabiya Mateo cried foul over rumors that she and her boyfriend, actor Jeric Gonzalez, demanded VIP treatment during the recent concert of Korean singer IU in the country.
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In a series of posts on Instagram Stories, the beauty queen-turned-actress reiterated that she and Gonzalez worked hard to be able to buy tickets, which cost P12,000 each, to the show.
She also reposted the apology made by the fan account that started the rumors.
"We wanna clarify that the rumors circulating are not true. We bought the tickets for P12,000 each," she stressed. "Just like the rest of them (audience), we worked very hard to afford the tickets and never demanded for any VIP treatment but we would like to commend the ushers for helping us find our seats."
"The admin of this page already apologized to us. None of these is true or real. Again, we paid for our tickets," she said in another Instagram Story. "The admin took responsibility for saying she doesn't know the usher and made the post out of hearsay."
Screenshots from Rabiya Mateo/Instagram Stories
Mateo went on to share a photo of their tickets, once again reminding her social media followers that they did not get any special treatment and even got scammed at one point.
"We've been scammed the first time we tried to buy these tickets. Just like the rest of you, we had a hard time looking for available tickets. Contrary to what most of you think, walang artista-artista sa paghahanap," she said.
Mateo also urged the public to "get their facts right" and not just believe everything they see online.
"Not everything you read is true. Not everything you see is real. Not everything you see should be posted online at the expense of other people," she said.
Screenshots from Rabiya Mateo/Instagram Stories
Mateo is known for winning the first Miss Universe Philippines winner under the new organization formed by Jonas Gaffud and Shamcey Supsup.
After finishing in the Miss Universe 2020 pageant as a Top 21 semi-finalist, she went on to pursue a career in Philippine showbiz.