MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATED) Ramon "Tats" Suzara has been elected president of the new national sports association (NSA) for volleyball, during the elections held at the East Ocean Seafoods Restaurant in Parañaque City on Monday afternoon.

The election proceedings were supervised by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), as per the request of FIVB, the world governing body of volleyball.

"After this unification, imagine having all the stakeholders (together)," said POC president Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino. "Definitely, we can now move on in the volleyball, especially ngayon na lumalakas na."

The new NSA will be called the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF).

The results of the elections will be presented at the FIVB World Congress set for February 5-7, with the new NSA expected to be given full recognition by the federation.

The FIVB wrote the POC back in December to ask for elections of new volleyball officers, as neither the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Inc. (LVPI) nor the Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) were fully recognized as legitimate NSAs.

• READ: POC to supervise volleyball elections, as FIVB seeks legitimate NSA
• READ: Volleyball elections set for January 25

"I will do my best as the new president," vowed Suzara.

"But hindi lang dapat ako; the board members and the other stakeholders are there to support. Hindi lang ako ang mag-iisa na magpatuloy nito. Lahat dapat kami," he stressed.

"But I will lead them, and use my affiliation and influence in FIVB and AVC to get a lot of support."

LVPI secretary-general Ariel Paredes was elected as chairman, while PVF vice-president Arnel Hajan was elected vice-president.
Donaldo Caringal was elected secretary-general, while Rod Roque was the treasurer and Yul Benosa, the auditor.

The board members are as follows: Ricky Palou, Tony Boy Liao, Karl Chan, Carmela Gamboa, Charo Soriano, Fr. Vic Calvo, and Atty. Wharton Chan of the POC.

A total of 31 ballots were counted during Monday's polls. Suzara received all 31 votes for the presidency.

Suzara said after the elections that he intends to unveil a 10-point strategy to the PNVF board and plot out a course for the direction of the organization.

Among his initial plans are the creation of an Athletes Commission and a department that will handle the formation of the national team for both the men's and women's divisions.

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