Ateneo de Manila University will remain part of UAAP Season 89.
Two months after the deaths of student-athletes Divine Adili and Rene Baterbonia during an offseason team-building activity in Aurora, the UAAP announced on Friday, Aug. 7, that Ateneo de Manila University will not be barred from participating in the upcoming season.
The decision ends weeks of uncertainty surrounding Ateneo's status in the league, following widespread speculation that the university could face severe sanctions in the wake of the tragedy.
Additionally, the league also announced a perpetual ban on former Ateneo Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin, who headed the offseason training that cost the lives of Adili and Baterbonia.
The UAAP also indefinitely suspended ex-Ateneo team manager Christopher John Quimpo, assistant coaches Dean Caesar Castaño, Sandro Nicholas Romero Soriano, Reynaldo Jacinto Jr., Hernan Ameer Domingo, Caesar Vincent Javellana Elumba and Grant Dearns, and physical therapist John Eric Rueca from all UAAP competitions and related activities. They are also not permitted to enter any UAAP venues.
The league is also requiring Ateneo to "undertake a comprehensive reassessment of the organizational structure and management of its men's basketball team in relation to the University's entire athletics program in order to strengthen student-athlete protection, welfare, accountability, and institutional oversight" following the tragedy.
Instead of imposing the league's harshest possible penalty, the UAAP opted not to suspend Ateneo's varsity program, allowing all of its teams to compete in Season 89 while investigations and other proceedings related to the incident continue.
The last time a school was banned from playing in the UAAP was in 2006, when the league pulled the axe on De La Salle University varsity teams for "institutional negligence" the year prior, following a massive academic eligibility scandal involving two of its men's basketball players.
In October 2005, DLSU administrators discovered and publicly admitted that basketball players Mark Benitez and Tim Gatchalian had used spurious and falsified Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT) certificates to gain admission into the university and qualify for the team. The ineligible players had been fielded for three consecutive seasons (2003 to 2005), which included DLSU's 2004 UAAP basketball championship run.
Before this, UAAP banned Adamson University for the entire Season 57 in 1994-1995 after discovering big man Marlou Aquino was ineligible due to academic deficiencies.
On June 8, Adili and Baterbonia drowned during a team-building water exercise in Dipaculao, Aurora, as part of Ateneo's build-up for the Season 89 men's basketball tournament.
A day later, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the UAAP issued statements expressing grief and launched independent probes alongside multi-stakeholder bodies.
Eleven days after the incident, the UAAP slapped a preventive suspension-ban on all Ateneo coaching staff present during the incident -- including Baldwin -- barring them from all league activities while inquiries continue.
Baldwin subsequently resigned from his post.
On July 5, Ateneo publicly released its official timeline detailing its internal actions and response to the tragedy.
On July 14, the NBI's Homicide Division recommended filing charges of reckless imprudence resulting in two counts of homicide against eight individuals: Baldwin; assistant coaches Castaño, Soriano, Jacinto and Domingo, strength and conditioning coaches and New Zealand national Grant Hearns, and physical therapist Rueca.
The initial deadline set by the UAAP for Ateneo to submit its internal investigation findings was July 15. Ateneo requested an extension, which the UAAP Board approved, moving the deadline to July 24. Preventive bans on the coaching staff remained in effect during the extension.
The UAAP Season 89 will open on Sept. 12, hosted by the Far Eastern University.