The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) set a meeting this Saturday (January 17, 2021) with volleyball stakeholders primarily to determine the legitimate voters and to set the date for the sport’s new national sports association.
POC Secretary General Atty. Ed Gastanes told BusinessMirror that the POC would have the final say on who could participate in the elections and stressed that an organization, club, league or individual should be “relevant” in order to be classified as a legitimate voter.
Gastanes also said the POC aims to make the political exercise more inclusive.
“The POC will finalize the terms of references of the general election. Upon the directive of the FIVB [International Volleyball Federation], we want to be more inclusive,” he said, adding the association’s charter is another key issue in the discussion.
The FIVB requested the POC to supervise fresh elections for the volleyball NSA with the international federation refusing to officially recognize both the Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) and the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Inc. (LVPI).
LVPI President Joey Romasanta and PVF President Edgardo Cantada were invited to the meeting, as well as Premire Volleyball League head Ricky Palou, Spikers’ Turf president Alyssa Valdez, Philippine Super Liga chief Ian Laurel and Beach Volleyball Republic president Charo Soriano.
Also expected to join the meeting are representatives from the country’s major collegiate leagues—University Athletic Association of the Philippines, National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc., among others.
The FIVB, through Director General Fabio Avezedo, asked the POC twice last year—August and December, to call for new elections of the national volleyball federation.
The IF—in several communications with the POC, domestic volleyball bodies and national federations—maintained that it hasn’t delisted the name PVF from its roster but also didn’t consider the organization its affiliate in the country.
The FIVB also refused to recognize the LVPI but because the body remains in the POC roster, it was allowed to select national team members for FIVB-sanctioned tournaments. The setup was in place since 2015.