NOT COJUANGCO NOR ROMASANTA BUT SUZARA

courtesy of spin.ph

After a year of existence, it is but natural to ask who is gaining the most from the establishment of Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Inc. (LVPI) as the new volleyball federation.

1. Is it the national team ? Definitely not as there is no national team to speak of under LVPI.

2. Is it the players ? With LVPI having no national team program and series of activities, players suffer the most under LVPI.

3. Is it Peping Cojuangco ? With the dismantling of Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF), Peping Cojuangco has lost a national federation that consistently votes against him during POC elections and gained one which will vote for him in the coming POC election.

4. Is it Joey Romasanta ? Well, he became LVPI president despite earlier pronouncements that he is not interested in the position. Recently, he became AVC Board Member. Certainly, Romasanta has gained so much power merely after a year through LVPI.

5. Is it Tats Suzara ? Sportscore, where Suzara is President and CEO, has been awarded the hosting rights of the Asian Women's Club Championship and World Women's Club Championship by AVC and FIVB. Never did Suzara win two hosting rights to two major AVC and FIVB events under PVF. But under LVPI, Suzara has been awarded not just one but two events. There are also plans for Suzara to create Southeast Asia Club League with the help of Shanrit Wongprasert now that LVPI rules over Philippine volleyball.

So, who do you think worked hard to put LVPI in place ? Of course, he who stands to gain the most.

WHY THE NEED TO SEND THE PRETTIEST PLAYERS TO THAI-DENMARK SUPER LEAGUE ?

courtesy of pantip.com

I just read in the The Philippine Daily Inquirer that the organizers of Thai-Denmark Super League requested the Philippines to send the prettiest players to the tournament. The request  should not be well-taken by the Filipino volleyball community. The request is a downright insult.

1. It belittles the playing abilities of our women volleyball players. The organizers think that the Filipinas are mere pretty faces and are best used to merely attract viewership. The organizers think that people watch Filipinas only for their good looks and not their playing skills.

2. It propagates the belief that ugly people don't have a place in the universe.

3.  It tramples the right of the Philippines to send anyone it chooses to send. The organizers' over-emphasis on beauty dictates a certain type of player that must make up the Philippine team.

4. It promotes a wrong culture in sports. Sports is all about excellence in a particular sport and not about physical attributes.

While PSL President Tats Suzara takes the invitation to the Thai-Denmark Super League as a compliment and an indication of the high regard of the organizers to the Philippine team, I see it more as an insult to the Filipino spikers who have more to offer than good looks.

MY TWO SIMPLE QUESTIONS FOR TATS SUZARA

I came across several newspaper reports about Tats Suzara's cash advances in Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) amounting to more than 3M in 1999. Suzara, according to the reports, used the cash advances to train a pool of national athletes and coaches in Australia. His cash advances were so controversial that in 2000, it was included in a graft case filed by a PSC commissioner who blew the whistle on other PSC officials. The case was even heard at the senate with Sen. Jaworski leading the investigation. Tats Suzara was eventually cleared by Ombudsman Aniano Desierto of any wrongdoing with regards to the cash advances.

But what intrigues me is Suzara's refusal to answer two questions that I have thrown at him for a week now. I asked him several times, through Philippine Superliga and his colleagues, where the training was held and what particular sport was involved in the training. Suzara chooses not to respond. 

In the other clipping above, Suzara told reporter Joel Orellana that the 3M cash advances were reimbursements for a seminar attended by a pool of national athletes and coaches in Darwin, Australia. More specifically, he cited Victoria Institute as the venue where his Filipino athletes and coaches had a seminar for two months. Victoria Institute was only established in 2011 making it impossible for Suzara and his contingent to have had a seminar in the institute in 1999. Moreover. it is in Melbourne and not in Darwin. Victorian Institute of Sports (VIS), on the other hand, appears more likely to be the place to train elite athletes. But VIS is in Melbourne as well and not in Darwin.

But what intrigues me the most is the email that VIS sent me.  Since Suzara refuses to answer my questions, I decided to ask VIS myself about the training  The email was sent to me last February 16, 2016..

Hi Eric,

Thank you for contacting the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS). In response to your question, a visiting group of officials from the Philippines attended VIS in the past for a tour and a discussion. However, we do not have a record of which individuals attended or the exact date of the visit.

I hope this information is of assistance to you.

Kind Regards,

Mathew

The lack of details concerning the "tour and discussion" of Filipino officials is quite understandable if the visit took place 16 years ago. And if it was only a two-hour visit and discussion, chances are, records could be missing after 16 years. But the email is revealing in the sense that it does not mention in any way, any seminar or training of Filipino athletes and coaches that lasted for two months. What it mentions is merely a tour and discussion involving officials.

Will Tats Suzara now answer my two simple questions to finally clear the issue? I certainly hope so. The Filipino sports community, after all, deserves that much.

I  will  be extremely happy to post the answers that Suzara will give.

PHILIPPINE SPORTS MIRROR THE WEAK MORAL FIBER OF FILIPINOS

courtesy of fivb.org

The unresolved conflict in Philippine volleyball is yet another grim reminder of how morally weak Filipinos are. The conflict is a shameful display of our refusal to address corruption in sports. Despite witnessing the grand display of dirty politics in the sudden change in leadership in the sport, we choose to tolerate what is obviously wrong.

But what I find truly tragic is that the problem is nothing new. Several other sports in the past have experienced the problems that now plague Philippine volleyball. Several other national federations have been disenfranchised by the Philippine Olympic Committee before. But lessons, it seems, are not learned as these problems continue to haunt Philippine sports in general.

I refuse to believe that the problems persist because we, Filipinos, can easiy be bought. In a country where more than half of the population live below the poverty line, it is an easy excuse to say that we are susceptible to bribery because of poverty. The truth of the matter is, even rich Filipinos can easily be bought like the poor.  Thus, what exists is a group of people who act and decide based on financial gain.

I wish I could say something positive about Filipinos in the midst of what is happening in Philippine volleyball. But our weak moral fiber simply negates our good points. I truly long to see the day when Filipinos become more discerning and morally upright to effect change in Philippine volleyball, Philippine sports and society as a whole.

POOR SPORTS CONDITIONING

courtesy of projectutopiarp.wikia.com

In 2000, a top sports official filed a case before the Ombudsman against some of the highest sports officials of the land then. The case was so sensational that even the Senate investigated the case.

But what makes the case relevant even today is that two of the officials cited in the said case remain very much around. In fact, the two have managed to upgrade their positions in the local sporting world. Little do people know that, as early as 2000, the two sports officials were already being mentioned in corruption cases.

Can you guess who these two sports officials are ?

The first one to give the correct guess will get a spoon from an accomplished and highly respected veteran actor.

EMAIL THAT I SENT TO WEI, WONGPRASERT AND GRACA

Dear Messrs. Wei,  Wongprasert and Graca

Greetings.

Attached is the 2016 calendar of events released by Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Inc. (LVPI). Notice that LVPI will not be having any tournament of its own. That is what you have all done for Philippine volleyball. You have put in place a new federation that has not done and will continue to not do anything for Philippine volleyball.

I hope that your conscience can take what you have done to Philippine volleyball.

Yours,

Eric F. Dimzon