At the 36th FIVB Congress in Cancun, Mexico, 94 countries voted not to expel Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) from FIVB. A total of 24 countries failed to attend the said congress, which meant an addition of 24 more votes for the side of non-expulsion. Hence, a total of 118 votes went to the non-expulsion of PVF which is 53.2% of the total number votes of the FIVB General Assembly (GA). Only 46.8% or 104 voted for the expulsion of PVF.
There are 3 points that make the decision of the FIVB GA at the 36th FIVB Congress extremely significant and groundbreaking.
One, it clearly establishes the fact that PVF is still the member of FIVB. The votes for non-expulsion of PVF, which form a majority, make PVF the true full member of FIVB
Two, it firmly establishes the fact that Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Inc. (LVPI) is not and cannot be affiliated in any way to FIVB. The FIVB Constitution only allows one member to FIVB per country. Since the votes went for the non-expulsion of PVF, LVPI cannot and must not be accommodated by FIVB and should be a non-entity as far as FIVB is concerned. As such, LVPI cannot and must not assemble and send teams to any AVC or FIVB tournament. Any participation from LVPI in any AVC or FIVB tournament will go against the very constitution of FIVB and put both AVC and FIVB in trouble. At best, LVPI teams can only participate in tournaments under the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC).
Three and most important of all, the vote of the FIVB GA for the non-expulsion of PVF is a courageous show of force against against FIVB BA and POC. It is a strong and undeniable indication that the majority of the FIVB GA decided to disregard the POC non-recognition of PVF to effectively stop the travesty that both POC and FIVB BA have displayed for four years. The conscience vote of the FIVB GA, for all intents and purposes, finally served justice to PVF and the Filipino people in general.
