PVF to hold elections with no POC nod

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) is going to hold an election on Jan. 25, hoping to put an end to all the restiveness among volleyball athletes, officials and stakeholders.

But the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) said it will be a futile exercise because it does not recognize the PVF as the national association for the sport in the country.

“Technically, the PVF is not an NSA (national sports association) under the POC. There is no existing NSA for volleyball right now,” said POC vice president Jose Romasanta.

“They can have elections everyday if they want,” Romasanta, also chairman of the POC membership committee, told The STAR yesterday.

Otie Camangian, a former volleyball player and coach and now PVF secretary-general, also said yesterday they will push through with the election.

“Yes,” he replied when asked if they would hold the exercise with or without the blessings of the POC.

“We’re all moving forward. We will continue the plans and development programs of the PVF,” said Camangian of the program that includes the hosting of the Asian Volleyball Confederation under-23 women’s championship in May and then the SEA Games in June.

The PVF, which has Karl Chan as president, has already hooked up with private sponsors for the said events.

The PVF, according to Romasanta, is in a hole because of what appears to be two separate incorporations with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) representing the same sport.

Romasanta said unless the PVF comes up with a remedy, the POC will not send a representative and recognize the results of the forthcoming elections.

Last Dec. 12, the PVF asked the POC to observe the Jan. 25 elections, one of the primary requirements for an NSA (national sports association) holding an election.

The POC promptly replied, saying it “cannot give due course” to the PVF request “because there appears to be two separate certificates of incorporation with the SEC.”

“I’m not sure if they are aware of the complications when the PVF sought a new SEC registration in 2014 without informing the POC,” said Romasanta.

“So, how can we recognize this new PVF incorporation when the POC was not even informed and when the one we recognize is the PVF of 2005?” the POC official said.

The POC informed the PVF of the matter many times before but the PVF did not take the necessary action and is now proceeding with the election.

“The POC has not received any corrective communication from the PVF. They just sat on it,” said Romasanta.

He said a PVF official approached him and asked if they could proceed with the election based on the 2005 incorporation that includes a set of by-laws and the list of stakeholders and voting members.

“How can they return and use the old one when they already have a new one? And how can they use the new one when it’s not the one recognized by the POC?” said Romasanta.

Things should not have gotten out of hand, according to the POC, if only the PVF did what it was supposed to do, which is to inform all the stakeholders of 2005 as well as the POC when they sought a new incorporation in 2014.

“But they did not,” added Romasanta.

Granting that the 2005 incorporation had been delisted with the SEC, the problem now lies in the fact that the POC was not informed about it as well as the formation of a new one using the same name (Philippine Volleyball Federation, Inc.).

“Lumalabas tuloy ngayon na wala tayong NSA for volleyball,” the POC vice president said.

As a result, the POC has decided to take over the sport as the country heads to the Asian under-23 event in May and SEA Games in Singapore in June.

The POC has dissolved the teams assembled by the PVF, calling for a new set of tryouts and the formation of a new team for the SEA Games.

In case the players refused to suit up for the team managed by the POC, then there will be no volleyball teams to represent the country in Singapore.

“What’s new? We haven’t fielded any volleyball team to the SEA Games since 2005, and the PVF says it’s been doing all the right things for the sport,” said Romasanta.