Inherited volleyball mess

There appears to be a feeble attempt to discredit the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) under its president Frank Lao. Some allegations have arisen which, upon checking, attribute the association’s issues to the current leadership who are, in fact, the ones sorting out the mess they inherited.

From 2021 to the November of 2025, Tats Suzara ran the federation. He is now president of the Asian Volleyball Federation (AVC) and executive vice president of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB). Volleyball patron Tonyboy Liao assumed his position in November. Within months, others in the national sports association ousted him, and asked Lao to step in. At first, it was disallowed, and the PNVF was suspended by the FIVB, a rare occurrence in which an international federation is influenced to act by an NSA’s internal struggles.

As a consequence, the Philippine Sports Commission froze funding for the organization. The Philippine Olympic Committee suspended the PNVF, as the FIVB created a strict plan for its reinstatement. Lao formally became president a few weeks ago. In the interim, he has spent his own money trying to plug the supposed P30,000,000 debt which he was surprised to find. So, the non-issuance of allowances by athletes brought up by Alas Pilipinas men’s team captain Bryan Bagunas in the Asian Games seems odd. If the alleged shortfall in allowances and lack of other support started in July, then that was before the Strong Group Athletics head came aboard.

Also, the PSC has meticulously been making sure that national athletes get all their allowances, and then some, even additional finances from chairman Pato Gregorio himself, who has been elbow-deep in addressing their needs. Even other POC officials question the statement. They’ve listed all the allowances, gear and travel expenses that have been disbursed.

Let’s look at Lao and SGA’s track record. They have selflessly supported basketball at the pro (Converge), college (College of St. Benilde) and high school (Letran) levels. He has spent tens of millions of pesos on teams to play in an international tournament in the Middle East, and built successful volleyball teams (Zus Coffee and Farm Fresh). Quietly, he has also covered hospitalization costs of athletes who don’t even play for him. He did not need to do any of this. He wanted to. Sport is his passion. No issues, just a clean name and slate.

Why is this happening? In sports, there seems to be an endemic of keeping newcomers outside the existing infrastructure. This jealous gate-keeping is in many sports groups in the Philippines. We’ve seen it time and again. Incumbent leaders – particularly those implicated in wrong-doing – cling mightily to the cash cow sports they are in, so they can keep going on their merry way, manipulating athletes and rigging finances. And when they are ousted or don’t get their way, they’d rather burn the house down instead of making way for the next occupant. And they bite the hands that helps.

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Norman Black’s 45 years of service to Philippine basketball will be featured on “Masters of the Game” at 5:15 pm over IBC 13 and DWAN 1206 AM.