FIVB cites LVPI NSA for volley

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has once again issued its stamp of approval on the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. (LVPI) as the rightful body to run and govern the sport in the Philippines.

The FIVB board of administration made the decision last May 5 regarding the governance of the sport in the Philippines, favoring the LVPI over the Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF).

The FIVB wrote a letter addressed to LVPI president Jose Romasanta and PVF president Edgardo Cantada. Copies of the letter were sent to Asian Volleyball Confederation president Saleh Ahmad Bin Nasser, Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco and International Olympic Committee-National Olympic Committee relations department head Jerome Polvey.

Stated in the letter is the FIVB decision adjudicating the dispute between the LVPI and PVF.

The world governing body in volleyball ruled that the LVPI remains provisionally affiliated with the FIVB with the rights to organize international competitions in the territory of the Philippines and enter national teams for the territory of the Philippines.

The FIVB also stated that the PVF will “remain suspended” until the former proposes during the 36th FIVB Congress to be held in 2018 in Indonesia “to expel the PVF” and “grant full membership” with the FIVB to the LVPI.

The FIVB letter was signed by FIVB general director Fabio Azevedo.

The FIVB, however, clarified that the decision “is provisional in nature” until it is ratified in the 2018 FIVB Congress, and that an appeal may be filed by the PVF before the FIVB appeals panel and in accordance with the FIVB disciplinary regulations.

Still, the LVPI welcomed the FIVB decision.

“I hope this puts an end to all the divisive speculations as to which is the rightful volleyball association in the Philippines,” said LVPI acting president Peter Cayco.

Cayco, a long-time patron of the sport in the country, attended the 2016 FIVB Congress in Buenos Aires in Argentina, a year after the FIVB had issued its recognition on the LVPI.

But the group of Cantada filed a formal appeal, and the FIVB was forced to withhold the granting of the full membership to the LVPI pending another fact-finding.