Whistleblower challenges the integrity of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation

With a letter dated February 1, 2021, the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) applied for FIVB membership at the 37th FIVB World Congress to establish, once and for all, a legitimate Philippine federation for volleyball. PNVF submitted its letter of application together with its by-laws and certificate of endorsement from the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) to fulfil the requirements for membership. 

With the submitted documents, PNVF was accepted by 73 per cent of the national federations of FIVB as an FIVB member and became a national federation entitled to financial assistance from the Philippine government.

PNVF's acceptance as an FIVB member appeared valid and above board despite the fact that PNVF was created only seven days prior to the 37th FIVB Congress. However, I could not erase my doubts as I simply found seven days too short a time for PNVF to get its documents in order. 

Many problems in the documents

So, I requested several FIVB members for a copy of the 37th FIVB Congress Minutes that contained the documents that PNVF submitted to FIVB. A few FIVB members gladly granted my request. To my surprise, I discovered that the documents that PNVF submitted to FIVB were highly questionable in both substance and form.

The by-laws that PNVF submitted did not have any indication that they were approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the Philippines. Under the Corporation Code of the Philippines, the by-laws must be approved by the SEC to be valid.

Neither did the by-laws have the signatures of the PNVF incorporators or board members. The by-laws were written on just a single sheet of paper and not notarized at all.

Lastly, section 4 of the submitted by-laws stated that PNVF was legally constituted as of February 1, 2021. The FIVB constitution requires that a national federation must be legally constituted in its country of origin, but SEC records showed that PNVF was not legally constituted as of February 1, 2021.

I also discovered that the authenticity of the certification from the Philippine Olympic Committee was highly questionable. The letter of application of PNVF to FIVB was dated February 1, 2021, and indicated that the POC certification was attached. Yet, the certification was only issued by POC on February 4, 2021, as written in the certification.

But how could the certification be attached to a letter dated three days prior to its date of issuance? Likewise, the certificate of endorsement could not have been valid because PNVF was not legally constituted when the letter was submitted to FIVB, and the constitution of the POC requires an organisation to be legally constituted before it can be recognised as a POC member.

Clearly, PNVF had submitted questionable documents which consequently made the PNFV's membership of FIVB questionable as well.

FIVB and the Philippine Sports Commission ignored the problems

I informed FIVB about the questionable documents on March 1, 2021, by writing to its president and director general and all the two hundred twenty-one national federations. Sadly, FIVB with its officials and national federations simply ignored the information that I gave.

When PNVF officials found out that I informed FIVB about the questionable documents, they immediately went to the SEC to register PNVF. They submitted the necessary documents for PNVF to be legally constituted to the SEC on March 1, 2021. Their papers, including their by-laws, were approved on March 3, 2021. The belated registration of PNVF with SEC only confirmed my belief that the documents submitted by PNVF to FIVB were indeed questionable and seriously flawed.

I also informed the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) about the documents of PNVF as the PSC is the government agency which has the authority to stop the recognition of PNVF as a national federation entitled to public funding. 

But PSC simply told me that it was unable to stop PNVF from functioning as a National Sport Association (NSA) since PNVF was recognised by the POC. The excuse was an outright lie because PSC, through the  Republic Act (RA) 6847, has the mandate to remove unscrupulous organisations from its list of recognised NSAs.

Authorities in the Philippines endorse the complaint

Not wanting PSC and PNVF to get away with what they did, I filed a complaint with the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA). ARTA found my complaint valid and then endorsed my complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman.

I was told by the Office of the Ombudsman to file a verified petition with supporting documents against PSC and PNVF. I filed a verified petition, and the acting director of the Public Assistance Bureau of the Office of the Ombudsman endorsed my petition. The Office of the Ombudsman presented my verified petition to the Office of the President for appropriate action.

With the endorsements from ARTA and the Office of the Ombudsman, I once again informed FIVB about the questionable documents of PNVF, hoping that the national federations would listen this time around. Unfortunately, FIVB still refused to take action against PNVF, and my appeal to FIVB to remove PNVF as FIVB member fell on deaf ears once again.

To make matters worse, FIVB awarded the hosting rights of several prestigious world tournaments like the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) and Volleyball World Beach Tour Challenge to PNVF. PNVF was even chosen by FIVB as host of the 2025 FIVB Men's World Championship where billions of Filipino taxpayers' money shall be used to fund the event.

FIVB shamelessly refused to acknowledge its mistake in accepting PNVF as a member and simply ignored the questionable documents submitted by PNVF.

Media in the Philippines refused to cover the story

Mainstream Philippine media too refused to cover the story. Not a single news agency or online publication have reported the story despite the endorsements by ARTA and the Office of the Ombudsman as proof of possible wrongdoings on the part of PNVF and PSC. Considering that the story could be the biggest scandal in Philippine sports, it was terribly frustrating that no one from the Philippines dared to write the story.

I, however, understood why Filipinos, especially those from the volleyball community, chose to remain quiet about the documents.

The president of PNVF, after all, was the  secretary of the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment Commission and chairman of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Development and Marketing Committee. The chairman emeritus of PNVF was a Filipino senator. The one in charge for the Philippine volleyball teams' participation in international tournaments was also senator. A celebrity mayor was an official of PNVF as well.

People were simply too scared to rub these powerful officials the wrong way. I therefore expected everyone to simply look the other way to avoid reprisal from PNVF officials.

A decision is imminent

But after nearly a year of numerous email exchanges and constant legal arguments with ARTA and the Office of the Ombudsman, a decision on my complaint is set to be released soon. I remain relentless as I make sure that the lawyer who will decide on my complaint is fully aware of just about every aggravating circumstance before the release of the all-important decision.

To ensure an accurate decision, I even requested the lawyer from the Office of the President to inhibit herself from deciding the outcome of my petition. I cited conflict of interest as the reason for asking her to inhibit herself and the entire Office of the President since the Philippine president, his wife and son support and are working closely with PSC and PNVF in connection with the hosting of the 2025 FIVB Men's World Championship.

I asked the Office of the Ombudsman to serve as the adjudicator of my petition instead.

I really look forward to a decision that will hold Filipino and international sports officials accountable. With the effort that I put in, I am confident that the decision will serve as a great reminder that truth and justice still prevail even in this part of the world.