For the past few weeks, Alyssa Valdez’s name has been dragged through the mud for various rumors sparked by people on social media.
LVPI secretary general and Shakey’s V-League President Ricky Palou addressed the media Wednesday night to shed light on certain issues.
Palou first clarified the issue of Valdez apparently turning down an offer from PSL club Foton to join their team for the upcoming AVC Club Championships. Foton won the PSL Grand Prix and, with that, claimed the right to represent the country in said tournament.
Initial rumors spread that Alyssa Valdez was invited to join the team but refused after Palou and Ateneo team manager Tony Boy Liao told her not to play.
According to Palou, such is not the case. Foton team manager, Alvin Lu approached Palou about the possibility of adding Valdez to the team, to which Palou said there was no problem. Valdez also wanted to play for the team but the PSL cited rules that made Valdez inevitable allegedly.
“First, Foton asked Alyssa to play for Foton in the Asian Volleyball Women’s Club Championship. So they talked to me, I said, ‘Yeah, she can play.’ I told Alyssa, ‘Alyssa, if you want to play, you can play.’ She said, ‘I’ll play in the Asian leg but I won’t play in the World,’ kasi sabi sa World, pito yung import, baka hindi kami makalaro doon ‘di ba, because most probably, they will use the imports. So she agreed to play in the Asian leg.”
“So we told Foton, I was talking to Alvin Lu, the team manager, sabi ko ‘Pwede, okay na. Alyssa also agreed to play.'”
“A few days later, they come back to me and say hindi pwede. She cannot play because PSL has a rule that says to play in the Club Championship, you have to play in the PSL Tornament for one conference at least, so hindi na s’ya pwede. That’s the reason why she’s not playing in the Asian Women’s Club Championship,” Palou recalled.
Palou also said that he has never stopped Alyssa from playing in the PSL – a rumor that people throw around as to why Valdez still chose to play for the SVL despite all the clamor for her to jump ship.
“The other thing is, people are asking her to play in the PSL, eh ayaw n’ya. They’re saying pinipigil ko: hindi ko pinipigil si Alyssa na mag-laro. In fact, I told Alyssa, ‘Alyssa, if you want to play in the PSL, it’s fine with me, hindi sasama ang loob ko sa’yo, choice mo ‘yan. If you think you’ll be better off there, by all means. It’s your decision.’ But ayaw niya, ‘di ba? So people are bashing her, kasi bakit ayaw n’yang mag-PSL, choice n’ya yun di ba and I think they should respect her choice,” Palou clarified.
There have been tweets calling both Valdez and her representatives selfish. There were also tweets about Valdez’s fans and how Valdez is a creation of the media. All of these, apparently, has had a negative effect on the Phenom mentally.
“‘Yun ‘yung decision n’ya and they should respect that. They bash her.
“Naawa na nga ako kay Alyssa dahil you know naman how she is – napakabait na bata, walang ano, ayaw niyang may mga kaaway. But then, you know, we’re hoping this thing will stop, kasi we should respect the choice of a person.”
“If she wants to do this, that’s her choice. Why will you start bashing her, ‘di ba? She prefers to play in the V-League, fine,” he furthered.
For his part, Palou stresses that the Shakey’s V-League has never said anything bad about the PSL nor have they ever hired writers to write stories about the other league.
“We’re not saying anything about the other league. They do what they want, bahala sila ‘di ba. They have their own tournament, let them run it the way they want. But you won’t hear anything coming from us.”
“We’re just here to promote volleyball and make it better so people will enjoy. ‘Yun lang ang gusto naming mangyari dito. Sana ma-clarify ito once and for all para matigil na ang bashing kay Alyssa. If they want to bash me, its okay. I don’t read naman social media but they should stop bashing Alyssa,” Palou stated.
“Alyssa is getting a lot of bashing in social media, sabi nila ako rin but I don’t read social media so it doesn’t affect me. But I guess it affects alyssa because she follows it.”
