Newly elected Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) president Tonyboy Liao has vowed that the new administration will continue, improve, and introduce new programs during its term.
Liao, an experienced professional in local and international volleyball management, also promised to bring about changes within the federation itself and mend the fragmented national sports association to achieve true unity.
“We promised the stakeholders who voted for us that we would not fail with our plans. They all know what our programs are and we’ll fulfill them,” said Liao, who also serves as chairman of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL).
Liao was chosen to lead the federation after stakeholders united to oust Ramon “Tats” Suzara during their elections on Friday at the Vault in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.
Suzara has served as the federation head since 2021 when the PNVF received recognition from the FIVB, replacing Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Inc.
Dr. Arnel Hajan will serve as chairman for the 2025-2028 PNVF term alongside Yul Benosa as vice president, Otie Camangian as secretary general, Ricky Palou as treasurer and Roger Banzuela as auditor.
Also receiving mandates as part of the executive board are Michael Vargas, Sherwin Maganda, Danilo Cong-o, Edward Lee, Charo Soriano, Fr. Vic Calvo and Ma. Soccorro Calleja.
A total of 47 federation members cast their votes to elect the 13 members of the board. The 13 winners decided among themselves who would fill the officers’ seats.
Culling the federation from redundant positions, as well as addressing PNVF’s financial concerns, are Liao’s immediate tasks.
“Our first order of business — actually, we just met with the board — is to ask all employees to submit their voluntary resignation. Mr. Palou, Doc Arnel, Yul Benosa, and I are former board members from the last board. We have noticed a lot of redundant positions. Two people working on one task, so there’s redundancy,” he said.
“We will try to clean it. Redundancy means a higher cost. The PNVF, as we all know, depends on sponsors. So, we need to cut costs so that we can divert what we could save to finance operations and tournaments.”
Liao also mentioned that the successful programs of the past administration will continue, including the seven-year national team development program agreement with the FIVB.
“Definitely, we’ll continue that since it’s also an initiative that (Philippine Sports Commission) chairman Pato (Patrick Gregorio) worked on. So, we have to follow and implement his agreement with the FIVB,” he added.
The new administration will sit down with Suzara and the former board to discuss whether it will immediately take over the federation or wait until January 2026 to start its term, with the last major event involving the PNVF — the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand — just a couple of weeks away.
