CIDG: Ateneo drowning case possible homicide, hazing

MANILA, Philippines — The investigation into the drowning of Ateneo de Manila University men’s basketball team players Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili is now focused on possible homicide or hazing cases, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said.

READ: NBI subpoenas Baldwin, Ateneo officials over drowning incident

“This investigation has now turned into a possible homicide investigation or hazing investigation… It depends doon sa ongoing na interview namin na cino-conduct sa mga players,” CIDG Director Maj. Gen. Robert Morico II said in a press briefing at Camp Crame on Monday.

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“The Anti-Hazing Act of 2018 applies not only to fraternities, or academies, or organizations like those in police training. It also applies to any organization, as a requirement for continuing membership,” he explained.

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“Among the possible things to consider here is the forced calisthenics, exposure to the weather or any other brutal treatment or forced physical activity,” he added.

Baterbonia and Adili died after being supposedly swept away by a current while they were allegedly training along the shoreline some 300 meters away from a beach resort in Dipaculao, Aurora, on June 8.

According to Morico, Ateneo men’s basketball team head coach Tab Baldwin and three companions arrived at the beach resort in Dipaculao, Aurora, early morning on June 6.

Baterbonia, Adili, and 20 other players arrived at 3:40 p.m. on June 7.

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On June 8, from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., the players participated in morning calisthenics and some games at a court beside the resort, Morico said.

He added that when the activities had ended, members of the “losing team,” including Baterbonia, prepared the team’s lunch.

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From 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on June 8, all the players rested in their rooms, according to the CIDG chief.

At 2:30 p.m., the players were called to assemble in front of the beach resort and asked to walk 300 meters away from the resort.

“The area was isolated…That is where the security guard, who is also the standby lifeguard, last saw them from a distance,” Morico explained in Filipino.

The drowning supposedly happened at 2:40 p.m., the Aurora Provincial Police Office previously said.

Asked for the basis for calling the case a possible homicide or hazing incident, Morico explained, “Number one, due diligence was not exercised like a good father of the family. You will not subject an individual to such high waves.”

“Second, there were past incidents that had already happened,” he added.

According to Morico, the CIDG is already in touch with at least three former players.

The CIDG previously subpoenaed all the team’s coaching staff to shed light on the incident.

However, on Monday, only Ateneo athletics director Em Fernandez personally appeared, while four others, including Baldwin, sent a legal representative.

Morico said the lawyers had no personal knowledge of the incident; thus, Baldwin and the three others who did not personally appear before the CIDG will be subpoenaed again.

The CIDG chief also said that they will be asking why the team conducted its activities in Aurora, whether they considered if the players could swim, and who performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Baterbonia and Adili.

“The material question that we’re going to ask is that [they] conducted the training in front of the resort. The front of the resort is, say, more than 50 meters. Why go to a secluded area? Why go more than 300 meters away? Far from prying eyes? What’s the purpose, when the lifeguard on duty is stationed at the resort itself?” Morico said.

“So, basically, you’re endangering somebody,” he added.

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Baldwin has apologized over the incident in an eight-minute video posted on the university’s social media four days after the incident. /mcm