Who are we protecting here?
Nothing exposes elite culture faster than seeing who people rush to defend first.
This isn’t a fight between social media and Ateneo. It is a confrontation between power and powerlessness.
On one side is Ateneo, an institution with prestige.
On the other is a poor mother who will bury a son on whom her family had pinned so much hope.
When she asks questions, she is told to wait. When the public asks questions, it is told to calm down. How convenient.
Powerful institutions rarely volunteer accountability. Public pressure has often been the force that compels action where silence would have been the natural and easy way out.
The school has the duty to present facts, timelines, and evidence. It has every right to correct inaccuracies and dispute claims it believes are unfounded.
If Ateneo has answers, it should give them.
The public deserves transparency.
And Rene deserves to be remembered as more than a casualty report. — Jason Mago
What good is excellence if you’re dead?
DAILY TRIBUNE columnist, Atty. Star Elamparo, put it best: “That there was no foul play doesn’t mean there wasn’t a crime committed. That they were not intentionally killed doesn’t mean it was an accident.”
At the end of the day, Ateneo and coach Tab Baldwin must be held accountable, regardless of intent. Former players themselves have described the Aurora training camp as resembling a military boot camp, where physical and mental endurance are pushed to the limit.
This culture is hardly unique. From professional sports teams to fraternities, grueling initiations are often romanticized as rites of passage. The logic is simple: discomfort builds character and proves commitment.
But even the military trains under controlled conditions with safeguards designed to prevent tragedy. Protocols are designed precisely to ensure that no one dies proving they are tough enough.
As Elamparo noted, “That the killing wasn’t intentional doesn’t necessarily mean the crime was reckless imprudence.” The law will determine that.
This is what happens when the obsession with excellence forgets that humans have limits.
Championships fade. Records are broken. Glory is temporary. Life is not.
What would excellence matter if you’re dead?
— Carl Magadia
Eagle’s outcry
People are grieving the deaths of Ateneo Blue Eagles student-athletes Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili in an alleged drowning incident during a team-building activity in Dipaculao, Aurora province. It was supposed to be a training for basketball.
Adili was a 21-year-old Nigerian import and incoming sophomore. Baterbonia, 19, was an incoming Blue Eagle from Agusan del Sur — a talent whose story was only beginning. Fresh off an MVP campaign that led his team to the 2025 Palarong Pambansa basketball championship, he was about to fly.
Videos have resurfaced of former Blue Eagles recounting the grueling “boot camp” under coach Tab Baldwin — training sessions that, according to some players, were designed to break them.
The two young men died on 8 June. It is 12 June. Still no word from Baldwin.
Ateneo has issued statements extending condolences, asking for privacy, offering support, calling for prayers, and releasing wake details. Meanwhile, investigations are underway. The NBI is probing the incident. The Philippine Sports Commission has formed a multi-stakeholder panel to review safety protocols.
The teammates are mum. The coaching staff is mum.
Baldwin’s silence is no longer just about him. It reflects on the institution he represents — Ateneo. He has gone on leave.
For grieving families, that absence can mean many things: a lack of urgency, a lack of concern, or time to coordinate a narrative. Call me a skeptic. But the families deserve answers. They entrusted their sons to the school in pursuit of their dreams. They sent them to what should have been a second home. Now what remains are the questions no parent should ever have to ask — the hows and the whys.
Had one of the victims come from a wealthy family in one of the country’s most exclusive subdivisions, this would likely have become a national issue overnight. The perception exists because the silence exists.
An institution that has never hesitated to demand accountability from national leaders should be prepared to live by the same standard.
Accountability should not depend on whose door the questions are knocking on.
— Vivienne Angeles