Ateneo de Manila University’s response to Rovelyn Baterbonia’s plea during her interview with the Tony Talks podcast was, at best, completely out of touch.
At worst, it was a textbook case of ignoratio elenchi — a logical fallacy in which an argument responds to a different point from the one actually being raised.
And that is precisely what Ateneo’s latest statement appeared to do.
Reading the statement, one could almost wonder whether it was written by a certain communications guru rather than the beloved Jesuit priest, Fr. RB Hizon, SJ.
Because this did not sound like an institution trying to understand what a grieving mother was actually asking for. It sounded like an institution preparing a defense to a question that had not been asked.
The University emphasized that it “has made every earnest effort to remain in touch with both the Baterbonia and Adili families, while respecting the wishes and circumstances of each family, and continue to do so to this day.”
It went on to cite University President Fr. Bobby Yap, SJ, personally meeting Mrs. Baterbonia at Rene’s wake in Manila to offer his condolences and apologies, pray with her, offer Holy Mass, and assure her that Ateneo was ready to extend whatever assistance the family needed.
“Fr Bobby visited the wake several times, and the same offer of support was conveyed to the family at different occasions by other members of our community,” the statement continued.
But listen to what Rovelyn actually said.
“Siguro po sa ngayon humihingi na sila ng tawad kasi alam nila na lalaban ako,” she said.
(“Maybe now they are asking for forgiveness because they know I will fight.”)
That is not a woman saying nobody from Ateneo has ever approached her.
That is a mother questioning when they chose to approach her, why they approached her, and who she was actually waiting for.
“Pero nung time na ‘yun, hinintay ko talaga sila na pumunta sa akin at mag-explain na, ‘Ganyan ang nangyari, aksidente talaga,’ at humingi ng tawad. Tao lang naman ako. Marunong din akong magpatawad,” she explained.
“Pero sa feeling ko, parang wala silang respeto sa amin na mahihirap.”
She was waiting.
She wanted someone to come to her, explain what happened, and apologize.
She wanted to be treated not simply as the mother of a player who died during a team activity, but as a human being who had just lost her son.
And she gave an even more specific account of what happened at Arlington.
“Noong dumating kami sa Arlington, ilang oras akong naghintay mula 2:40 PM ng June 9 hanggang 1:00 AM ng madaling-araw bago ako pumirma sa imbestigasyon kay attorney.”
She waited for hours.
And while she waited, she said, she was hoping that the people from “Ateneo” would come.
“Hinintay ko yung pagdating nila para damayan ako at sabihing, ‘Mommy, patawad talaga, ganyan ang nangyari.'”
But nobody did.
“Pero walang nangyari. Kaya masasabi ko na wala silang respeto. Kapal talaga ng mukha.”
Whether one agrees with every characterization Rovelyn made is beside the point.
Ateneo’s response should have addressed the substance of what she was saying.
Instead, it pointed to Fr. Bobby Yap.
But as my Tiebreaker Times colleague and Ateneo faculty member Aldo Tong pointed out, the Ateneo the Baterbonias are asking for is not Fr. Bobby Yap.
In fact, they did not even know who Fr. Yap was until June 9 — the day they met him at Arlington Memorial Chapel.
The Ateneo they want to meet is the man who recruited their son into the Blue Eagles program and was directly involved with the team in the months leading up to the incident in Dipaculao, Aurora.
The Ateneo they want to meet is the man identified as the person who created the “bootcamp” in Aurora, an activity that had been conducted for years.
The Ateneo they want to meet is Tab Baldwin.
That is the Ateneo the Baterbonia family knows.
(C) Filoil
For 64 days and counting, the families of Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili have been asking for one thing: an opportunity to talk to Baldwin.
And it is difficult to understand why that request continues to be treated as though it were simply another request for condolences, assistance, or institutional communication.
Baldwin was there at ground zero.
He was the person the families entrusted their sons to.
He was supposed to be the team’s “parent” during the week-long activity in Dipaculao.
Throughout his time coaching the Blue Eagles in the UAAP, Baldwin has preached values such as maintaining mental toughness amid heavy pressure as well as maintaining a sense of brotherhood among his team, which has been branded as the fabled ‘Blue Eagle Band of Brothers (BEBOB).’
But where is he now?
How is it that a man venerated for his leadership simply abandons ship and leaves his deputies and players to simply pick up the pieces in the ongoing aftermath of the tragedy?
Whatever the final conclusions of the various investigations may be, those are facts that cannot simply be erased by a statement about the University’s efforts to communicate with the families.
The families are not asking for another representative.
They are not asking for another Mass.
They are not asking whether Ateneo has offered financial or other assistance.
They are asking to speak to the person who was at the center of the program their sons were participating in.
That distinction matters.
Screenshot from Mirayah
Based on reports, the coaches who went to Arlington were Sandro Soriano and Dean Castaño, arriving two days after the incident. The team also went to the wake as a group, but the circumstances of that visit did not provide the families with the personal conversation they had been seeking. Former team manager Epok Quimpo, who was in Guam during the incident, also flew back to the country on June 10.
In an ideal world, it shouldn’t have been Soriano and Castaño who visited, but Baldwin.
Head coaches are the ones who should always lead at the front. They’re the faces of the programs. They’re the ones who always face the gallery regardless of the result of the game.
While there have been several instances where student-athletes from other schools have passed away prematurely, all those cases saw coaches immediately talking to parents and being with the families throughout their ordeal.
And there is another reason why Baldwin’s absence is particularly difficult to reconcile.
In its June 11 statement regarding Baldwin, Ateneo said:
“The University requested that Coach Baldwin refrain from making public statements to allow the official processes to proceed and the facts to be established before any public discussion of the matter.”
The University added that, while the community was mourning and the circumstances were still being examined, it believed it was neither appropriate nor helpful to ask Baldwin to engage in public commentary.
That position was understandable at the time.
But then came June 12.
Ateneo released a prerecorded and edited video of Baldwin on its social media channels in which he finally apologized.
The timing was particularly painful.
That was also the day Rene’s remains were leaving Manila for Ateneo de Davao University, where his viewing would be held in his home campus.
The University had asked Baldwin to refrain from public statements while official processes were underway.
Yet Baldwin eventually appeared in a podcast.
Since then, much has changed.
Baldwin has resigned from Ateneo.
The UAAP has permanently banned him from all league activities.
And, more importantly, Ateneo can no longer simply compel him to sit down with the Baterbonia and Adili families as their coach.
Which brings us back to the University’s response.
The issue is not whether Ateneo has reached out.
The issue is who the families are asking to hear from.
That is why invoking Fr. Bobby Yap’s visits to the wake, while meaningful in themselves, does not answer Rovelyn Baterbonia’s plea.
It answers a different question.
The families have spent more than two months asking for a conversation with Baldwin.
Ateneo may no longer have the authority to make that conversation happen.
But it still has the moral authority — and, perhaps, the responsibility — to do everything within its power to make it possible.
Not only for Rene, Divine, and their families but also for the current batch of Blue Eagles who have been granted the privilege to honor their fallen brothers by competing in UAAP Season 89 despite receiving intense scrutiny, abuse, and misplaced blame for a tragedy that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
