Hands off

The MVP Sports Foundation (MVPSF) made it clear on Tuesday that while it provides funding to the Ateneo de Manila University men’s basketball team, it doesn’t have any hand in running it amid the deaths of players Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili.

MVPSF president Alfredo “Al” Panlilio said the foundation’s role is simply to provide funding, as it does for other sports organizations.

Baterbonia and Adili passed away last week in a drowning incident during a team-building activity in Dipaculao, Aurora.

Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin and team manager Epok Quimpo resigned a week after the tragedy.

“The foundation does not own or manage the Ateneo Men’s Basketball Team. It does not run the team’s programs, athlete management, coaching, recruitment, or player development,” Panlilio said.

“As with all of the sports programs we support, the MVPSF’s role is limited to providing funding.”

Panlilio, a former president of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, said Quimpo’s role as team manager was not the foundation’s doing.

DAILY TRIBUNE tried to reach Quimpo for comment, but he declined to issue a statement in deference to the investigations being conducted by authorities.

“Mr. Epok Quimpo is an employee of Smart Communications. But we understand he has served with the Ateneo Men’s Basketball Team in his own personal capacity over the past decade — as an alumnus of Ateneo and a former member of the Ateneo Men’s Basketball Team who was invited by Ateneo to serve as its team manager,” Panlilio said.

“In that engagement, he has always been under the authority and direction of the University and its officials.”

Former Blue Eagles players Geo Chiu, Mike Nieto, Kymani Ladi and Dom Escobar were among those who arrived at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) headquarters on Tuesday in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Meanwhile, Quimpo arrived at the National Bureau of Investigation along with Atty. Karl David, Baldwin’s lawyer.

Ateneo president Fr. Roberto “Bobby” Yap said the institution has yet to decide whether it will withdraw from Season 89 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) following the tragedy.

The Blue Eagles have already withdrawn from the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup and the Japan University Top League, which will run from 12 to 14 August.

“With regard to the UAAP, we have yet to make a decision. We’re still studying the matter,” Yap said in Filipino during a press conference, marking the first time he faced the media since the tragic deaths of the two student-athletes.