Why the Big Bad Wolves can’t blow down the stone house of the PVF, Amihan and Bagwis

Members of Amihan and Bagwis during a recent courtesy call to former congressman Victorico Chavez (backed turned to camera)-(Photo: Beverly Laurete-Hawksworth)

Alright, here we go.

I’ve stayed silent about the “issue” concerning Philippine volleyball for a bit too long and now here’s my shot: THERE IS NO “ISSUE”.

Philippine volleyball has gained so much momentum over the past few months that it looked like it was cruising to its pinnacle without a hitch. Then last November came a ripple in the calmness that detonated in media circles, social media, among the fans and practically everywhere except at the very core of where the issue was supposed to be emanating from: the Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) itself.

It really looked like meteorites were crashing left and right as allegations that the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC)—through the intercession of a certain official who I will not name (coz most of you already have this person in your sights and crosshairs)—was/is swooping into to take over the operations of the PVF due to “internal turmoil” among its members and this official (along with a posse of “very interested individuals”) was/is set to dissolve the newly formed national teams (Amihan and Bagwis) as well as control the sponsorship money from the sports biggest benefactor PLDT Home Fibr.

But as the media blitz continued to confuse and appall the volleyball community on the gravity of the “situation”, the PVF released no official statement, made no effort to contact the media to defend themselves and has continued to remain quiet as if oblivious to the tremors outside of its proverbial walls.

The PVF, under the leadership of its President Karl Chan and its Secretary General Rustico “Otie” Camangian know how solid the structure is and have remained unfazed as they know how legitimate the organization is and have the paperwork to back it up.

It’s like the Big Bad Wolf (and his demented friends) trying to blow down the stone house. They’ll turn blue and then they’ll be blue.

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But I digress and jumped a few pages forward. I’m already in the “day-before-yesterday” portion of the hullabaloo. To get a better understanding—especially to those who have been very uneasy in social media—let’s put certain events in order.

The PVF’s present leadership was put together on an interim basis following a process that placed its former President Gener Dungo on “indefinite leave” and had him step down from his post. Chan (the former Vice President of the PVF) was placed at the helm with Camangian—a former national team player and coach—appointed to his present post of SecGen. The resolution was signed by a majority of the Board of Direcors of the PVF (minus Dungo and a few others).

This was done on May 30th of 2013.

It is now common knowledge that the PVF made the move to replace Dungo as its president due to the continual internal battles within the ranks and the hopes that such a bold move would finally make the National Sports Association (NSA) progress.

Again, the posts of Chan and Camangian are on an interim basis and the resolution also indicated that before the end of 2014 an election should be held after a General Assembly (GA) in the presence of representatives of the POC and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

Between that time, Chan and Camangian put in motion several plans to clean up the PVF and revive what has long been known as a dormant NSA. Their twenty months at the helm produced several key results: the formation of national teams that competed in the 2013 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) women’s championship in Nakhor Ratchasima, Thailand and the 2014 Women’s Club Championship in Nakhom Pathom, Thailand. This was the first time the Philippines officially competed in an international competition since the 2005 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Bacolod (the 2013 AVC zonal qualifiers in Quang Tri, Vietnam which had the Shakey’s V-League selection see action was not sanctioned by the PVF).

In April, 2014, the Philippines hosted its first international tournament under the PVF’s new administration with the staging of the Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena. The last time the country did that was during the “Ondoy” ravaged 2009 Asian Men’s Volleyball Championship. On May 1-9, 2015, the Philippines will be hosting the AVC Under-23 (U23) Women’s Volleyball Championship.

Besides that, the PVF was also able to lock in a sponsor for its various undertakings as PLDT Home Fibr became synonymous to the volleyball program and when the tryout process for Amihan (women’s) and Bagwis (men’s) took place, Home’s most powerful broadband was centerstage of the biggest endeavor to form the nation’s most powerful volleyball teams.

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PLDT Home Fibr officials were practically hands on during the process—which included the selection of the Head Coach and staff.

The impending GA and elections were slated for the first week of 2015 as the PVF were also busy collating the requirements for the country’s return to the SEA Games in Singapore this year.

Then the foundations it painstakingly built over the past months began to shake.

Pedro R. Mendoza, Jr.—the long time Chairman of the PVF passed away last October leaving a big void.

Then an alleged election composed of PVF board members was hastily done proclaiming board member Edgardo Cantada as the new PVF Chairman. The “snap election” was conducted without a quorum and with no members of the POC and PSC present.

When the POC got word of this “upheaval”, the POC official in question (and his very interested posse) led a movement to declare the PVF an “unfit” NSA and make a bid to takeover.

But instead of using the conventional method of going through a step-by-step process, the “group” went to the media and used it to manipulate the beliefs of those in the community. Those on the outside looking in began believing in what was being released. Members of Amihan and Bagwis tried to fend off the allegations but it slowly began bothering them and their focus on preparing for competition.

During one such media availability session, veteran campaigner Rachel Anne Daquis even broke into tears and the “group” even tried to use that incident as leverage by calling for the ouster of Chan and Camangian indicating that it is now starting to affect even the players.

The latest moves attempted by the “group” were to hold a new national tryout and even had the names of iconic volleyball coaches Roger Gorayeb (women’s team) and Sammy Acaylar (men’s team) as the newly appointed coaches. When it was apparent that their nominated schedule conflicted with the ongoing UAAP volleyball season, they went on to “name” the team. Most of those on the “new” national teams were members of Amihan and Bagwis—all under contract.

Remember the part in Disney’s rendition of the “Little Mermaid” when King Triton tried to zap the contract Ursula had Ariel sign but couldn’t destroy it coz it was legal? That contract is the PVF now.

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The PVF officials (Chan and Camangian, in particular) have chosen to be tight-lipped about the “issue” precisely because there is none.

For clarification, the POC is a sanctioning body from the private sector and is the local arm of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The POC’s main mandate is to sanction those sending representatives to multi-sport international events such as the SEA Games, the Asian Games and the Olympics. It’s biggest wield of power is to decide whether or not an NSA can send a team or an individual to any of the aforementioned events—or similar types, such as the Youth Olympics, the Asian University Games, etc.

It cannot take over the PVF and the national teams ‘just like that’.

The POC needs to bring up such a matter before a General Assembly and have that NSA declared “unfit” but needs a majority vote to get it done. It can’t just be achieved on the notion of an individual member or a minority sector. And when is this next POC GA?

Let’s even go beyond that.

On November 19, 2014 the FIVB—the world governing body for volleyball, or in sports parlance referred to as the I.F. or International Federation—sent an attestation to the PVF reiterating its recognition of the present leadership of the NSA and signed by no less than its President Ary S. Graca.

Last Saturday, Camangian formally made a special effort to reach out to the group that threatened to overthrow their interim leadership and after a lengthy meeting not only did both sides patch up their differences, but vowed to work together to continue the progress of the PVF.

Once again, harmony rules within the PVF ranks.

If the I.F. recognizes the PVF’s present leadership and the PSC views the PVF as an NSA in “good standing”, what’s with the POC and its “group”?

Here’s the worst thing that can happen: Amihan and Bagwis won’t be representing the Philippines to the 2015 Singapore SEA Games this June.

That sucks because the teams were put together precisely for this purpose and some of their members (including Tina Salak, Mary Jean Balse and Raffy Mosuela) aren’t getting any younger and could make 2015 their last year for an international sortie.

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But the POC cannot stop Amihan and Bagwis from seeing action in all AVC and FIVB tournaments and it definitely cannot stop the PVF from operating now.

There is an option for the PVF to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland and the Philippines could get a temporary go signal to compete in the SEA Games when the CAS brings up the impending case to the IOC.

Congressman Lino Cayetano of Taguig has also called for an investigation in the “issue” and Senator Pia Cayetano has been very vocal in her disdain for the ongoing fracas. If this escalates into the political arena, it could get ugly.

The next question is why do these elements in the POC and the “very interested” posse go to great lengths to put a perfectly clean shirt through the mud?

From what I’ve gathered: politics and money.

That’s what volleyball has now become: the new former basketball.

It took Manny Pangilinan several years to create a new basketball NSA as the defunct—and corrupt—Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) eventually became a distant memory. And although politics still abounds in the sport, it is quelled in every which way it can be quelled by those stakeholders who believe in basketball’s progress.

Pangilinan slowly cleaned up shop and the installation of its present Executive Director Sonny Barrios has made the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) more transparent and a model NSA. Politics is almost eradicated from its ranks and the money infused into the SBP goes where it’s supposed to go: into the various programs and expenditures for international competition and development. However, that took several years.

Does the PVF have to go through the same ugly process?

Some people who want to take control of the PVF think that that they can also take control of the sponsorship money being invested into the program. They should be smarter than that.

There was even a report about one of the members of that “group” calling a senior PLDT official on the phone and saying, “O, kami na ang may hawak ng PVF ha. Sa amin niyo na idadaan ang para sa national teams ha.”

It’s pathetic that some people could be so after money that will never belong to them and some people chase positions that they will try to acquire by all means—even if it means the destruction of something that was put together by others.

I wrote once that volleyball does not have to follow the evolution of basketball to become as popular.

Volleyball is now very popular as evidenced by the attendance battle just last Sunday when the last playdate of the UAAP women’s volleyball elims coincided with Game 3 of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.

The final tally: basketball=13,800+, volleyball, 18,500+.

There is no “issue”.

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The official in the POC and his “very interested” posse can go on sending press release after press release and other media entities (not Yahoo Philippines) can go on fanning the flames by continually sensationalizing every attempt to dent Philippine volleyball, but the truth of the matter is that the PVF is still the duly recognized NSA by the PSC, the FIVB and the community.

Amihan and Bagwis are solid, too, and also know exactly what’s going on. They know they are the duly anointed national teams and will continue to support the PVF—yes, including Alyssa Valdez and Den-Den Lazaro.

As of this writing, it is still an uncertainty if the Philippines will be represented in the Singapore SEA Games. But I believe—once the truth is known and the right people come in to do what is right—not only will Amihan and Bagwis be sent to Singapore, but they will usher in a new and exciting chapter in Philippine volleyball.

The truth always prevails, and the truth is on the side of the PVF.

Ergo…

Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter (@NoelZarate) and email sportztackle@yahoo.com