The issue was brought as league owners have been in contact with him after the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) released a joint resolution, where they drew a line between professional and amateur sports.

The said joint resolution laid down the guidelines to set an endpoint between professional and amateur athletes. Under it, the former refers to individual or team sports, games, contests, bouts, and tournaments where the participating athletes are paid sums of money or other forms of compensation as salary or prizes.

GAB Chairman Baham Mitra pinpointed that if an athlete gets paid and does not play for the national team, then he or she is a professional.

However, the final decision to turn pro doesn’t depend on the organizers alone. “We will need to get the approval of our member-teams,” Palou said.

Moreover, turning pro will not be easy as it seems as some collegiate players competing in the PVL also play in the UAAP and the NCAA.

“Some of our teams still engage the services of collegiate players to play for them,” he added.

Palou averred that being a pro league will also bring drawbacks if collegiate players are allowed to obtain special licenses just to play in the league.

“The school leagues will not allow their players to play in their respective leagues even with a special license. They will reason out that players who participate in professional leagues will also have an undue advantage over those that do not play in the pro league,” he propounded.

On one hand, Mitra believed that turning pro will help the resumption of volleyball competitions as only professional sports are only allowed at the moment during the quarantine.

But he noted that the agency is not forcing leagues to turn pros. 

“We’re not a revenue-generating agency. We’re just following our mandate. We don’t meddle; we only step in when needed,” Mitra said.