The estranged wife of Ateneo de Manila University head coach Tab Baldwin spoke about the dangers posed by his team-building activities to his players in the light of the drowning incident involving Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili last Monday in Dipaculao town in Aurora province.
In a viral video on social media, Efi Baldwin said it was the Katipunan-based school’s responsibility to remove the Kiwi-American mentor for the safety of the athletes.
“At the time, I repeatedly told Ateneo de Manila University that children were not safe around him and that it was their duty to remove him,” the coach’s estranged wife said in a post that came out on Saturday.
“I urged them to move him away from the university campus, but instead they launched a campaign of intimidation and silencing.”
“I urged Filipinos and the police there to keep asking why he was still allowed around children despite these warnings.”
Even Baldwin’s daughter, Giota Kalogioru, called out team manager Epok Quimpo for allegedly ignoring her mother’s warnings.
“Remember how you were laughing when we told you Tab was dangerous to kids? Remember laughing at my mom? Remember putting him inside the Ateneo dorms and us begging you to take him out?” Kalogioru said.
“Now you have two funerals to explain.”
Baldwin issued an apology last Friday and took responsibility for the deaths of his players in the incident.
“I’m so deeply sorry — not just to the families, but to everybody who feels let down, somehow betrayed,” Baldwin said.
“I failed as a leader. I felt I had failed as a coach. I certainly felt like I had failed as a friend to Divine and Rene.”
But Rovelyn Baterbonia, the mother of the late cager, refused to accept his apology and instead demanded details about what led to her son’s death.
“Your apology is not enough. What I want is for you to reveal what really happened and why you are saying that what happened to my son was just an accident,” the player’s mother said.
“Let us assume it was just an accident, but you have not even updated me on what happened. You posted on social media that my son had died, but you did not even send me a picture to prove that my son was really dead.”
Atty. Israelito Torreon, who represents Baterbonia, said Baldwin’s apology video lacked substance.
“There was nothing — no accountability — in his video statement,” Torreon said.
