Ateneo Blue Eagles Men’s Basketball Team head coach Tab Baldwin expressed his apology on June 12, 2026. 

“And in this, I feel I failed. And I'm sorry. To the depth of my being, I'm sorry,” he said

Baldwin expressed his grief over the tragic loss of the two players, Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili, lamenting that he would no longer be able to guide them and develop their potential on the basketball court.

“Yes, as a coach, I lost my boys too. Never again would I be able to help them develop into the basketball player they wanted to be, to help them grow into the young man that they promised that they could be,” he said

However, the families of the two deceased student-athletes reject the apology statement issued by the basketball coach.

For Rovelyn Bartebonia, the mother of Rene, Baldwin’s apology is unacceptable.

“Hindi pwedeng idaan nalang sa apologies ang kamatayan ng aking anak,” she said

She is also expecting that Baldwin will tell the whole detailed story about the death of his son.

“Ang gusto kong sabihin ninyo kung ano talaga ang nangyari sa aking anak. Sabihin nating aksidente lang, pero hindi niyo kami sinabihan kung ano ang nangyari, nagpost na kayo sa social media na wala na ang aking anak pero hindi kayo nagbigay ng picture na patunay na wala na talaga ang anak ko,” she added

[“What I want from you is the truth about what really happened to my son. You can say it was just an accident, but you never told us what happened. You already posted on social media that my son was gone without even giving us a photo to prove that he was really dead.”]

Meanwhile, Elias Adili, the father of Divine, expressed hope that they would achieve justice for his son.

With reports from Benedict Samson