MANILA — Senators Erwin Tulfo and Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday (September 23) lashed out on the organizers of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship for imposing high ticket prices that, they said, kept ordinary fans away from the tournament.
In a privilege speech, Tulfo warned that the event was “driving Filipinos out” of the sport instead of making it more inclusive.
“₱15,000 para makapanood lang po ng volleyball. Sino naman po ang makabibili ng ganyan kamahal na ticket? Siyempre, hindi po ang ordinaryong estudyante. Hindi rin po ‘yung mga mahilig sa volleyball sa probinsya, o mga batang nangangarap na maging volleyball players,” he said.
“This is not inclusion, Mr. President, this is exclusion. Instead of bringing volleyball closer to the people, we are telling them sports is only for the rich,” Tulfo added.
Hontiveros backed Tulfo’s concern, sharing that one of her children, a volleyball fan, also complained about the high ticket costs.
“‘Bakit mama, ang mahal ng mga tickets?’” Hontiveros quoted her child as saying. “Pagdungaw nila, kitang-kita nila na ‘yung mga sections, ‘yung mga seats na mas malapit sa court, halos walang nakaupo dahil napakamahal.”
The tournament, running from September 12 to 28, initially priced opening-day tickets between ₱1,500 and ₱14,000. Pool-phase matches cost ₱500 to ₱13,800. Discounts were later implemented, with up to 50 percent off for knockout games. But Tulfo argued the rates remained “far from what Filipinos could afford.”
“Binabaan na po daw ‘yung [presyo] ng ticket, pero ang tanong po, is it lower compared to international benchmarks and the purchasing power of Filipino fans? Medyo hindi pa rin po eh,” he said.
Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) president Ramon “Tats” Suzara earlier defended the organizers, saying discounts were applied and that global standards influenced pricing. On the issue of gambling ads, he also clarified that the logo of online betting firm 1XBET was not displayed locally, only appearing in the Vollleyball World's feed.
“The Philippine National Volleyball Federation, under the leadership of Mr. Ramon Suzara, has allowed the promotion of 1XBET, an online gambling operator that is illegal in the Philippines. Illegal po ito, bawal,” Tulfo countered.
The senator, a former broadcast journalist, further lashed out at PNVF during the Wednesday Senate session for allegedly barring sports website Spin.ph from covering the games after the outlet reported on poor attendance of the event. Tulfo added that a Rappler journalist was also reprimanded for similar coverage.
“This is censorship. This is curtailment of freedom of the press. As a journalist all my life, I condemn this act of blocking our noble reporters’ freedom to right of the press,” Tulfo said.
“Dapat po managot ang mga taong nasa likod ng panghaharang sa mga kapatid natin na nasa midya. Karapatan po ng bawat mamamahayag na sumulat o mag-broadcast ng katotohanan,” he added.
– With reports from Kennedy Caacbay, ABS-CBN News