From whichever angle I view the deaths of Rene Clert Baterbonia and Chukwuemeka Divine Adili, I arrive at the same conclusion. Ateneo de Manila University administrators are culpable but regrettably, they failed to respond to this tragedy with dignity, compassion, and accountability.
From the outset, I was stunned by their silence. And by silence, I mean the way they chose to hide behind cold, carefully crafted statements: sympathetic at the surface but deviously designed to persuade the public to retreat in prayer and not pursue questions that needed answering.
Two boys under their care are dead. They owed us, not to mention the parents, the truth. Yet, in their first public statement, Ateneo asked for privacy and space. Not the time. And not for the coaches who, no doubt, were processing their guilt and grief but were nevertheless responsible for those deaths. They were accidents. Yes. But they were accidents waiting to happen.
The coaches, we now know, were fully aware of the dangers of the waters in Aurora. Because, in fact, the players were briefed about the rip currents before the outing and even instructed how to swim to survive them. And that is the most unforgivable aggravating circumstance in this tragedy.
The coaches knowingly put these boys, some of whom could not even swim, in harm’s way. And yet arrogant apologists dare say Coach Tab and his team knew what they were doing because they had done it before.
Well, if they did, Rene and Divine would still be alive today. And a team of boys would not be living with trauma for the rest of their lives. And we would not be here.
We needed answers. But Ateneo did not provide any. What it did, however, was gripe about speculation which they fueled with continuing silence. The fallout of this failure in communication and crisis response was just as tragic as the deaths of Rene and Divine.
Ateneo was so intent on protecting its brand, it failed to see that what could have saved Ateneo was a human face, not a series of public relations statements that lacked soul, sincerity, and sensitivity. It said it sought the truth, desired clarity and accountability yet, nowhere in all its statements did I see an explanation, apology, or expression of accountability for what happened. What I did see was Ateneo leaping to the defense of Coach Tab Baldwin’s silence.
The speed with which its Legal, Marketing, and Communications teams leapt to protect Ateneo from legal implications was astonishingly swift but shameless.
In that disastrous, stone-cold press conference, the double-speak was palpable. Advocating for accountability yet not accepting any. Pushing for clarity yet remaining vague, unclear, and deflecting when pushed to answer hard questions.
Adding insult to injury, Coach Tab was incredibly thanked for his years of service to Ateneo while the parents were still grieving for their children likely killed by his boot camp.
At the townhall, the excuses and euphemisms persisted. I truly fail to comprehend how Ateneo can use politics as a shield for their failings. Only the politicians care about politics. We, the public, only seek truth and accountability.
How can the leadership of Ateneo be so tone-deaf in the face of human tragedy? But should I be surprised when these are the same leaders who recklessly gave Coach Tab the keys to the kingdom for a championship trophy?
Or do they lie when they say they knew nothing about Coach Tab’s boot camp?
Where is Ateneo’s humanity? Thankfully, it still thrives in its community of students, faculty, parents, staff, and alumni.
