PVF AND LVPI : THE RIGHT TO KNOW

courtesy of sports.abs-cbn.com 

It is incumbent on Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) President Edgardo Cantada to present solid proof that his latest pronouncements are true. After all, his statements carry a huge impact not only on PVF and LVPI but on the players, coaches and fans as well.

There are more than 40 players who are currently practicing everyday for the different tournaments that LVPI signified its intention to participate in. These tournaments include the 2017 SEA Games, 2017 Asian Volleyball Championships and 2017 Asian Women's Club Championship.There are 4 coaches who diligently map out plans to bring honor to the country. While I maintain that their loyalties are misplaced, I believe that they deserve to know whether all their efforts will be rendered useless and simply go to waste in the end.  If LVPI is indeed barred from sending teams to international tournaments, the players, coaches and fans need to be informed right now to prevent disappointment and frustration over the unnecessary waste of time and effort.

If the statements of Cantada are indeed true, then Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) can perhaps act accordingly. But PSC must first know the real deal with LVPI before taking any action.

Ang pagmamalasakit sa mga players, coaches at fans and dapat isaalang-alang ni Cantada at ng buong PVF.  Ang pagpapalabas ng katotohanan sa kalagayan ng PVF at LVPI ang gagabay sa mga tao sa tamang desisyon at aksyon. At ito rin ang gagabay maging sa PSC kung ito ay magbabalak man ng tamang hakbang sa gitna ng kaguluhan sa Philippine volleyball. Sa kabuuan, ang patotoo sa mga binitawang salita ni Cantada ang magbibigay ng bahagyang linaw at tamang direksyon sa pamamalakad ng volleyball sa Pilipinas.

COACHES VICENTE AND ACAYLAR MUST RESIGN

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The presentation of the national pool proved to be a big disaster for Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Incorporated (LVPI). What was originally seen as a shining moment for LVPI turned.into a big nightmare as head coaches of the national pool were caught issuing false statements. Ateneo players spoke to disprove what head coaches Vicente and Acaylar said in a forum attended by sports writers. Thus, the statements of the head coaches were revealed to be false to volleyball fans and general public.

The false statements they conveniently issued should force Vicente and Acaylar to consider resigning from their posts. Their resignations are in order for the following reasons :

1. There was malicious intent to put the Ateneo players in bad light. The statements of Vicente and Acaylar give the impression that Ateneo players did not bother to respond to the invitation to serve the country through the national pool and eventually the national team. The statements likewise portray two of the Ateneo players as lacking in skills, making them unworthy of slots in the national pool.

2. Coaches Vicente and Acaylar desecrated the sanctity of the institution that is the national team and that of being a national player. In their attempt to show that the players were properly and strictly screened, they resorted to making false statements. The two coaches cheapened the national pool and its players with their careless and inaccurate statements.

3. Coaches Vicente and Acaylar have lost the moral ascendancy to coach the team with the loss of trust that their statements generated.

4. The public apology issued by LVPI is not enough to erase the stigma created by the statements of the two coaches on the national pool. In fact, the public apology only added insult to injury as it reduced the huge mistake into a mere "clerical" error. Heads must clearly roll.

Resignations must not only be confined to Vicente and Acaylar. It is to the best interest of Philippine volleyball that Cayco, Romasanta and Suzara tender their resignations from LVPI as well. After all, the three sports officials never said a word as the two coaches issued those false statements in their presence and in front of a crowd. Cayco, Romasanta and Suzara all just went along with the charade as it was happening in front of their faces. They, sadly, all played along with the mockery that was taking place in what should have been a presentation of the best in Philippine volleyball.

THE FIVB AD HOC COMMITTEE AND PVF

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I am rather dismayed that the leadership of Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) had a press release that gives the impression that FIVB is a bastion of justice. That with the creation of the ad hoc committee, PVF will surely be given the justice it truly deserves.

Truth of the matter is, the ad hoc committee was created to appease FIVB Honorary Life President Wei Jizhong more than anything else. Wei created a commotion just as the votation whether to expel PVF or not was to take place at the World Congress. The votation was a sure victory for PVF and defeat for POC and LVPI. Wei created a commotion to prevent the immediate and total victory of PVF. And to put order in the whole Congress, officials of FIVB proposed the creation of the ad hoc committee. The ad hoc committee did not really start from FIVB's desire to dispense justice. It was an accommodation to what a staunch supporter of POC and LVPI wanted. 

While I am truly praying that something good comes out of the ad hoc committee, the very reason for its creation casts doubt whether it can truly dispense justice. FIVB, right at the very start, refuses to give due process and fair play to PVF. PVF must work doubly hard than POC and LVPI to convince the committee that it is PVF that deserves to be recognized. So, the hope for justice to be finally served to PVF should really be tempered and put in its proper context.

UNITY IN PHILIPPINE VOLLEYBALL ?

courtesy of spin.ph

LVPI Vice-President Peter Cayco appeared on Sportsdesk recently. He was asked by the host, Mico Halili, if warring groups in volleyball can unite. Mr. Cayco quickly answered in the affirmative.

With all due respect to Mr. Cayco, I really don't think there can be unity in volleyball without justice. To this day, the officers and members of LVPI refuse to acknowledge that what they did to PVF is wrong. And to add insult to injury, LVPI  acts as if its non-acceptance as member to FIVB in Argentina did not happen.

Certainly, unity among volleyball officials is needed for Philippine volleyball to really take off and reach international caliber. But the people who, in the first place, caused divisiveness cannot and do not have the right to appeal for unity. Justice demands that these people who created the problems in volleyball in the first place must be removed. for true unity to materialize. After all, why must people unite with people who do not have a concept of what is wrong or right ? Why must people unite with people who initiated the moves to divide and conquer the sport of volleyball in the first place ?

THE LETTER OF POC PRESIDENT PEPING COJUANGCO THAT STARTED IT ALL

Dear President Graca:

Greetings!

We are communicating with you in support of our earlier emailed certification regarding our provisional grant of recognition to "LARONG VOLLEYBALL SA PILIPINAS INC." as the only and duly recognized National Sports Association for Volleyball.

Presently the Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) has not served the best interest of Philippine Volleyball for years. This is glaringly manifested in Philippine volleyball being a non participant in the Southeast Games from 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013 and a great number of tournaments.

To enable us to correct this deplorable situation, we are endorsing LARONG VOLLEYBALL SA PILIPINAS INC. for your recognition as the National Sports Association for Volleyball in the Philippines.

They will be initially represented by the following members of the board of trustees tasked to exhaustively organize, have legitimate stakeholders represented and thereafter have fair and democratic elections.

JOSE A. ROMASANTA President
RICHARD N. PALOU Secretary General
ANTONIO Dl. TAMAYO Treasurer
BENJAMIN I. ESPIRITU Trustee
RAMON C. MALINAO Trustee

We trust that LARONG VOLLEYBALL SA PILIPINAS INC. will merit your recognition as the Philippine Olympic Committee has granted them recognition to enable Philippine Volleyball to move forward soonest.

Our warmest regards and appreciation.

Very respectfully yours,


President Philippine Olympic Committee

Copy furnished:
1. Mr Wei Jizhong FIVB and AVC Honorary Life President
2. Mr. Essa Hamzah AVC 1st Executive Vice President
3. Mr. Shanrit Wongprasert AVC Zonal Vice President and Secretary General

THE LETTER THAT DISTURBED FIVB AND POC

courtesy of theodysseyonline.com

Dear National Federation President,

Greetings once again from the Philippines.

I initially wanted to answer Mr. Fabio Azevedo’s response to my first letter of appeal to you. But I do not want to burden you anymore with yet another long and tedious argument and to belabor the facts and issues involved. Instead, I wish to prove that Philippine Olympic President (POC) Jose Cojuangco Jr. did not tell the complete truth to FIVB. It is the only way to put a stop to, once and for all, all the arguments and justifications that FIVB is using in connection with its withdrawal of recognition from Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF).

In his letter to FIVB dated January 20, 2015, POC President Cojuangco stated that PVF “ has not served the best interest of Philippine volleyball for years “ as manifested by “ by being a non-participant in the Southeast Asian Games from 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013 and a great number of tournaments. “ As a result, PVF lost its status as a national federation with the POC. And the POC president endorsed Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Inc. (LVPI) as the new national federation for volleyball prompting FIVB to recognize LVPI as the new national federation thereafter.

But I wish to call your attention to the letters of intent and official line-ups of the PVF teams from 2007-2011 that were submitted to PSC by PVF precisely for the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG). The attachments are solid proof of PVF’S intention and desire to participate in SEAG from 2007-2011.  These attachments reveal that PVF was not remiss in its duty of forming national teams and discovering national athletes. Moreover, the attachments reveal that PVF ensured that the Philippines would be represented in SEAG. That PVF took the time and effort to prepare teams for the SEAG in all the years that the POC president mentioned. All these can hardly qualify as “ not serving the best interest of Philippine volleyball for years .” In 2013, PVF even intended to join the 17th Asian Women’s Senior Championship in Thailand as seen from one of the attachments.

PSC likewise issued a certification that “ Philippine Volleyball Federation is supporting the Philippine Sports Commission on the implementation of its grassroots sports programs namely, the National Youth Program - Batang Pinoy and the Philippine National Games (PNG) by providing technical experts or officials who administer the conduct and management of these national amateur volleyball events of the Commission. “ The certification certainly debunks the claim of Cojuangco that PVF has not served the best interest of Philippine volleyball most especially on the grassroots level. Kindly see the attachment of the said certification below for your reference.

According to the POC Constitution Article III b,  it is POC that shall be the sole authority for the representation of the Philippines at the Olympic Games, Asian Games, Southeast Asian Games as well as other events held under the patronage of IOC and OCA and to undertake the organization of these Games when they are held in the Philippines. The term "representation" covers the decision to participate and the entry of athletes selected by their respective National Sports Association (NSA's). Thus, the non-participation of PVF volleyball teams in SEAG is therefore the work of POC itself. It is POC that refused to send the PVF teams to the SEAG. POC did not give PVF teams its approval to participate in SEAG despite their availability, willingness and preparedness to participate. What is only being observed is the apparent non-participation of PVF teams without taking into account why there is non-participation. POC refused to send PVF teams to SEAG for reasons that only POC knows. The blame for the non-participation of PVF teams to SEAG must be put squarely on the shoulders of POC.

In view of these latest revelations, I fervently hope that you see the need not to expel PVF from FIVB and to allow PVF to have a hearing at the Judicial Panel. FIVB committed a serious mistake in completely believing the statement of Cojuangco and aggravated that mistake when it decided to use Cojuangco’s misleading statement as basis for action.

It is now up to you to correct that mistake by voting no to the expulsion of PVF from FIVB and allowing PVF to present its case in a proper forum. That is the only way that justice can be served to PVF and the Filipino people in general.

Thank you.

Yours,

Eric F. Dimzon

Sports Journalist

WHY I BELIEVE PVF WILL LOSE ITS RECOGNITION FOR GOOD WITH THE FIVB BA

courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

I have said it before and I will say it again. Philippine Volleyball Federation  (PVF) will lose its recognition from FIVB for good if FIVB Board of Administration (BA) will have its way.

One merely has to read the 35th FIVB World Congress Working File to realize that the top brass of Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) and FIVB really pushed for the expulsion of PVF. With a single letter from POC President Jose Cojuangco Jr., FIVB, in a week's time, withdrew its recognition from PVF. FIVB officials led by Graca, did not bother to study and evaluate the situation carefully and hastily gave its recognition to Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Incorporated (LVPI) which was endorsed by Cojuangco and Tats Suzara. FIVB cites Article 1.3.4 b in its constitution to justify the expulsion of PVF. But the said Article is wrongly applied to PVF since PVF is not anew applicant and was previously recognized by POC for the last 54 years. Hence, the Article cited by FIVB in expelling PVF is wrongly applied.

At World Congress in Argentina, the more than 200 member nations saw with their own eyes how FIVB Honorary Vice-President and BA member Wei Jizhong lawyered for POC and LVPI. Instead of maintaining neutrality, Wei blatantly campaigned for LVPI and succeeded in causing a commotion during Congress to protect LVPI. In the end, PVF representatives agreed to the creation of an ad hoc committee.

And this was the biggest mistake that PVF committed during World Congress.

The creation of an ad hoc committee paved the way for the same FIVB and AVC officials who campaigned actively for LVPI to decide the fate of PVF once again. At World Congress, what prevented the final expulsion of PVF from FIVB were the 200+ member nations, not the FIVB and AVC officials like Wei, Nasser, Wongprasert, Hoffiz and others. Bringing back the decision to the hands of these AVC and FIVB officials through the FIVB BA is a kiss of death for PVF. These officials will certainly not admit that they are partisan and will stand by their decision of withdrawing recognition from PVF than to admit their mistake.

To make things worse for PVF is that LVPI is so busy in forming national teams for the Asian Senior Championships and 2017 SEA Games. Once the ad hoc committee arrives in Manila and sees the active work of LVPI, members of the ad hoc committee will surely rule in favor of LVPI. PVF, instead of being highly visible with activities that will show its great promotion of volleyball in the country is unusually quiet these days. PVF President Boy Cantada seems to be so sure of victory for PVF when the ad hoc committee starts its investigation in Manila. Little does he realize that, from all indications, the decision is already a done deal and in favor of the other group if FIVB BA will have its say.