As Baldwin continues silence, pressure grows heavier on players to ‘tell all’

Ateneo Blue Eagles coach Tab Baldwin during a game against UP Fighting Maroons in the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball tournament. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

As questions continue to swirl around the deaths of Ateneo players Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili during a team activity in Aurora, former members of the Blue Eagles program are urging the public to allow investigations to run their course and to ease pressure on players still grappling with the tragedy.

The calls came as Ateneo announced Thursday that men’s basketball coach Tab Baldwin and team manager Epok Quimpo had gone on leave while the university conducts an independent fact-finding inquiry.

Baldwin has yet to issue a public statement since Baterbonia and Adili died Monday in what Ateneo described as a drowning incident during a conditioning exercise in Dipaculao, Aurora.

Ateneo later issued another statement saying it has ordered Baldwin to refrain from issuing any public reaction or explanation regarding the deaths.

“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 statement read.

“In the immediate aftermath of this heartbreaking loss, our guidance to Coach Baldwin was to focus his attention on the emotional and psychological welfare of the players, coaches, and staff affected by the incident, while also attending to his own well-being as someone who is grieving alongside the rest of the community.”

Former Ateneo deputy coach Sandy Arespacochaga said the intense scrutiny has extended beyond coaches and administrators and is now being directed at players, many of whom were present during the incident.

“The players are going through something so heavy,” Arespacochaga told reporters Wednesday. “Hopefully, people stop threatening the players. It doesn’t help the situation anymore.”

Several current and former Ateneo players have faced calls on social media to reveal details about what happened in Aurora. Incoming rookie Kieffer Alas, who posted tributes to Baterbonia and Adili online, was among those met with demands from netizens to “tell all” about the incident.

Arespacochaga said the players remain traumatized and deserve the opportunity to process their grief.

“It’s really important to give them the chance to grieve like the families of both Divine and Rene,” he said. “The players are all still traumatized.”

He added that he had spoken with Baldwin and members of the coaching staff after their return from Aurora but could not say when, or if, the veteran coach would address the public.

In a statement signed by Ateneo president Roberto Yap, the university said Baldwin and Quimpo were placed on leave to preserve “the total integrity, independence and fairness” of the investigation.

The inquiry, Ateneo said, will reconstruct a timeline of events, review athletic protocols and interview everyone present during the activity.

The school also sought to dispel online speculation, stating that “no weights of any kind were used” during the conditioning exercise.

“All I’ll say is right now, there’s a lot of noise and I don’t want to add to that,” Go said. “There’s a lot of investigation going on.”