THERE has been no shortage of headline-grabbing sister-team activity in the PVL in recent years.
One of the earliest moves that turned heads was the Rebisco switch in January 2024, when then-Choco Mucho aces Bea de Leon and Denden Lazaro-Revilla moved to Creamline.
READ: PVL needs to contain 'sister team' crisis before it gets out of hand
Just four months later that same year, the league saw its biggest sister-team transaction to date after Akari and Nxled pulled off a blockbuster swap in May.
Akari sent Dindin Santiago-Manabat, Trisha Genesis, Bang Pineda and Roselle Baliton to Nxled in exchange for Ivy Lacsina, Dani Ravena, Kamille Cal and Cams Victoria.
That deal went beyond player movement, as the two teams also swapped head coaches, with Taka Minowa moving from Nxled to Akari and Raffy Mosuela heading the opposite way.
Five months later, Strong Group Athletics (SGA) teams Farm Fresh and ZUS Coffee had a one-way sister-team transaction, with the Thunderbelles signing Kate Santiago, Chinnie Arroyo and Joan Narit as 'free agents' following their Foxies stints.
Toward the end of 2024, the PVL bared plans of a 'showcase period,' designed to give all teams the chance to sign or waive a free agent before that player could land with a sister team as a last resort.
“Ang huling usapan namin, isang buwan [ang showcase period] pero masyadong matagal. Tapos nauwi nga sa 15 calendar days," PVL control committee chairman Sherwin Malonzo said in November 2024.
"I think that was the last, so we’ll just publish it and then eventually release it by the end of the year [2024]."
Oldest trick in the book?
The same reasoning cited by SGA in justifying the Santiago-Arroyo-Narit move was also applied in Rachel Daquis’ transfer from Farm Fresh to ZUS Coffee.
Like the now-Thunderbelles trio, Daquis’ contract with Farm Fresh had already expired, supposedly without any pre-termination involved before ZUS Coffee secured her services.
Despite the proposed showcase rule being floated for more than a year earlier, Malonzo explained that the veteran outside hitter exercised her right to choose her next team as a free agent.
“Dumaan sa akin [‘yung move] last year. Finished contract si Daquis. Nag-free agent siya after pero she decided to sign with ZUS,” Malonzo told SPIN.ph.
“As free agent, she is free to choose the team she wants to transfer to," he added.
This setup differs from the PBA’s free agency framework, where a player may only sign with a sister team after being waived by all other teams.
With no fully codified rulebook yet governing player movement, sister-team transfers still remain unabated to an extent in the PVL and has often played out under the umbrella of free agency.
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