FRANK Lao was elected president of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) in elections supervised by the Philippine Olympic Committee that also marked the return of ousted president Ramon 'Tats' Suzara to its board.
Lao's assumption to the PNVF presidency on Monday completed an unusual return to the position just months after the POC iself nullified his victory in another election undertaken by the association's old board.
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The Strong Group Athletics (SGA) founder has two teams, Farm Fresh and ZUS Coffee, in the Premier Volleyball League. But Sports Vision, which runs the country's pioneering pro league as well as the Spikers' Turf, was not represented in the polls.
SPIN.ph sources said a large percentage of the PNVF board representatives took part in the last elections were not part of Monday's proceedings, raising claims that volleyball's stakeholders were disenfranchised from the proceedings.
PVL officials said they forwarded a memo to the POC Ad Hoc Committee stating their position ahead of the general assembly, but never got a reply. The league said it also didn't receive a copy of the nomination form from the committee.
Lao first became PNVF president in June after the federation’s board moved to replace Tonyboy Liao, putting the SGA founder in charge at a turbulent point after the national federation was suspended by the FIVB and the POC stepped in as caretaker.
Curiously, Suzara was elected to the federation as an executive board member, while his longtime right-hand man, Don Caringal, who begged off from the elections, was appointed by Lao to be the new secretary-general.
Both Suzara and Caringal work closely with the POC.
Meanwhile, Atty. Rico Kapunan was named vice president, with Rommel Ng taking over as treasurer and POC secretary-general Wharton Chan - who also heads the kickboxing federation and the new national billiards association - the new auditor.
Chan did not take part in the election but was appointed by the POC to the board.
Also part of the new board are NU sports director Otie Camangian, the NCAA's Jonas Cabochan, Cebu Volleyball Association head Chad Salimbangon, Maguindanao’s Mohammad Ali Bernan, Bacolod's Carmela Gamboa, and Cignal TV vice-president and head of channels and content Sienna G. Olaso.
The POC, which is also set to name two players' representatives to the new PNVF board, has yet to reveal which entity Olaso represented in the elections.
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