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Alas Pilipinas battles against Egypt in the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship 2025 in Pasay City on September 16, 2025. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — Senators Erwin Tulfo and Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday called out the organizers of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship over the expensive ticket prices for the sporting event.
In his privilege speech during the Senate plenary session, Tulfo said that Filipinos are "being priced out" from the sport, resulting to "empty" arenas during pool phase action.
The World Championship is running from September 12 to 28. Remaining games are now held at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, but group stage matches were also held at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
Before ticket discounts, opening day prices ranged from P1,500 to P14,000, depending on the seats. Pool phase tickets were valued at P500-P13,800.
"P15,000 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 probinsiya, o mga batang nangangarap na maging volleyball players," said Tulfo.
"This is not inclusion, Mr. President, this is exclusion," Tulfo rued. "Instead of bringing volleyball closer to the people, we are driving them away. Instead of inspiring the youth, we are telling them 'sports is only for the rich.'"
READ: PNVF president responds to critics of PH's hosting of FIVB Men's World Championship
Hontiveros also voiced out her concerns regarding the matter, citing one of her children who is a volleyball fan.
"Nireklamo din po niya [her child], Mr. President, 'yung isang pinoint out [ni Senator Tulfo] na 'bakit mama, ang mahal ng mga tickets?'" said Hontiveros.
"Pagdungaw nila, kitang-kita nila na 'yung mga sections, 'yung mga seats na mas malapit sa court, halos walang nakaupo dahil napakamahal," she added.
On Tuesday, before Tulfo's speech, the tournament had once more slashed the prices for quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals matches, implementing a 50 percent discount for the rest of the tournament.
Responding to this, Tulfo said that ticket prices, despite being discounted, were still 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," said Tulfo.
"Binabaan nila kasi nilalangaw na po, sayang, wala na pong nanonood. And we sponsored that tournament po. We paid so much money for this tournament tapos wala pong return," Tulfo claimed.
Tulfo, the chair of the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement, also slammed anew the alleged showing of illegal gambling platform 1XBET's logo during matches. PNVF president Ramon "Tats" Suzara earlier said that there were no 1XBET logos on actual courts, and were only shown at Volleyball 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 said.
"1XBET is illegal in the Philippines, so it's not shown on domestic television. Even in One Sports or Cignal TV, walang 1XBET. You can only see 1XBET in the global feed or if you are a subscriber of Volleyball World," Suzara previously told reporters on September 16.
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