CANDON CITY – As much as possible, Alas Pilipinas wants to stay focused on the task at hand rather than be affected by the controversies that put its federation in a bad light amid its campaign in the 2026 AVC Cup here at the Candon City Arena.

The leadership row in the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) was further muddled following the withdrawal of support from the majority members of the board. This came after the PNVF was suspended by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and the financial support from Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) was stopped.

Unmindful of the outside noises, the Nationals continue to persevere, trust each other and play as one big unit in their desire to give joy to millions of volleyball fans with reaching the podium as their ultimate mission.

“Well, iniisip lang namin ‘yong sarili namin, ‘yong teammates namin, siyempre ‘yong tiwala sa isa’t-isa,” said Thea Gagate, who topscored with 11 points in Alas Pilipinas’ 25-9, 25-11, 25-17 bounce-back win over Kyrgyzstan on Monday, June 8.

Hearing words of encouragement from the coaching staff seems to work wonderfully for the Nationals.

“Especially sa coaches, talagang malaking bagay, kasi sila din ‘yon naghe-help samin na [mag-focus],” she added. “Gusto ko lang talaga ibigay ‘yong best ko and mga matutunan ko sa past experience ko… Hopefully, mas marami pa kaming makuha in our remaining games.”

Gagate’s brilliance plus the veteran presence provided by Jovelyn Gonzaga, Alyssa Valdez, and Ces Molina put the world No. 48 Philippines to No. 2 in Pool A with a 2-1 win-loss card.

But their last two games are critical, and they need to hurdle South Korea and Taiwan one after the other if they are to advance to the semifinal. They are battling the Koreans at posting time and the Taiwanese on Wednesday.

Also in attendance in that contest were PSC chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio and the amiable Mayor Eric D. Singson of host cityh.

“Sa amin, sa PSC, gusto lang namin na ang talagang focus is on the national team program [kasi] pag ganitong mga hosting, gumagastos po ang pamahalaan, gumagastos ang probinsya, maraming gumagastos na sponsors, so ayaw namin ng hidwaan, lalo na kung ang hidwaan ay tungkol lang sa mga personalidad,” said Gregorio.

“We are hosting the FIVB Women’s Volleyball World championship in 2029, before you know it, it’s 2029. Kailangan i-focus natin yung suporta natin sa development ng mga atleta. Ako naman naniniwala, na yung FIVB, together with the Asian Volleyball Confederation ay maso-solve kaagad yang issue on the Philippine federation,” he added.

Gregorio also stressed that despite the suspension of the federation, the show must go on for the national team on the international stage, while Singson was full of gratitude as Candon got another chance to show their world-class type of hosting.

“‘Yong mga mamamayan are so happy, kumikita yung mga tindahan namin. We are excited to have this kind of event, salamat kay chairman at binigyan kami ng pagkakataon,” said Singson. “This is not an easy task, I really did a lot of thinking kung paano, 12 nations yung nandito.”