When it was revealed that Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) endorsed Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) to FIVB when PNVF was not yet legally constituted, POC lost its credibility and moral ascendancy to act as a National Olympic Committee (NOC).
POC knew that PNVF was not yet registered with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last January 27, 2021. Yet, POC and the POC GA hurriedly accepted PNVF as POC member. Item 5 of the POC Membership Requirements stipulates that a federation must be registered with SEC before it can be accepted as a POC member. Worse, POC Secretary-General Atty. Edwin Gastanes wrote a letter of endorsement to FIVB Director General Fabio Azevedo for PNVF. Clearly. Atty. Gastanes knowingly endorsed an entity that he knew was not eligible for membership to FIVB right at the very start. But the POC Secretary-General obviously could not care for rules. Articles 2.2.1 and 2.2.5 of the FIVB Constitution requires National Federations to be legally constituted.
There is simply no excuse for what POC did for PNVF at the expense of PVF. Thus, the only thing left for POC officials to do is to resign. After all, what they did is a national and international embarrassment. Resignation is the only way they can salvage whatever is left of their their pride and honor.
