In the wake of the devastating loss of Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili during a team-building activity, a heavy cloud hangs over the Ateneo Men’s Basketball program. Two young lives are gone. Two families are shattered.
Yet, days into the tragedy, we haven’t seen someone stepping forward to take executive accountability.
As a matter of standard courtesy, ethics, and leadership, Coach Tab Baldwin should have immediately filed his resignation.
Stepping down in the face of such an unprecedented tragedy is not an admission of guilt, it is the honorable act of taking command responsibility. It is the only way to truly pave the way for an completely impartial and transparent investigation.
When the head of a program remains in power while a probe is active, the shadow of institutional influence especially within a wealthy, elite university like Ateneo, will always make the public look for signs of a whitewash.
The silence regarding true responsibility sends a terrifying message to the provinces and to families abroad: “We want your talented children, but we cannot guarantee their safety.”
Rene was a young standout from Agusan del Sur, a Palarong Pambansa MVP who trusted his future to this program. Divine was a foreign student-athlete navigating a different culture, miles away from his home.
Statements of deep sympathy and financial support from the university administration cannot heal a grieving parent’s heart. What those parents deserve right now is justice, absolute clarity, and a leadership that is brave enough to say, “The buck stops with me.”
If no one takes responsibility for a fatal “bootcamp” or team activity under their watch, it creates a dangerous stigma.
High school standouts and their protective parents will think twice before committing to a program that fails to prioritize human life over sports excellence.
For a university that prides itself on forming “men and women for others,” the current silence is deafening.
We don’t just need prayers; we need accountability.
