Tab Baldwin has resigned as head coach of the Ateneo de Manila University men's basketball program, while team manager Epok Quimpo has also stepped down, during an ongoing multi-agency investigation into the drowning deaths of student-athletes Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili during a team activity.
Ateneo president Fr. Bobby Yap, SJ confirmed the developments in a press conference at the university campus on Monday afternoon.
Baldwin and Quimpo were placed on leave last Thursday, June 11, as the school opened a fact-finding inquiry into the deaths of Baterbonia and Adili during a team-building activity in Dipaculao, Aurora on June 8.
Baldwin is also subject to allegations made by his estranged wife, Efi, who said in a video statement though her New-Zealand based lawyer on Saturday that the university had ignored her concerns after she had told officials that "children were not safe around him".
Earlier on Monday, Baldwin, Quimpo and team chaplain Fr. Nemy Que failed to appear before the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) after being subpoenaed at Camp Crame, the national headquarters of the Philippine Constabulary, as parallel investigations continue across multiple agencies, including the Department of Justice, Department of Labor and Employment, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said the trio was instead represented a team of lawyers.
Mr Remulla said the CIDG would again subpoena Baldwin, Quimpo, Que and other members of the Ateneo de Manila University men's basketball team management, and noted they could be charged with indirect contempt if failed again to personally appear before the CIDG.
The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) is "closely following all developments" and reviewing findings as they emerge, while the Philippine Sports Commission has formed a multi-agency Sports Stakeholders' Panel involving key national sporting and education bodies to assess the situation.
Baldwin, 68, had led the Blue Eagles since 2016, steering the program to four UAAP championships, including a dominant three-peat from Seasons 80 to 82.
He has also coached the Philippine men's national basketball team, Gilas Pilipinas, and the national men's teams of New Zealand, Lebanon and Jordan.
He coached Auckland Stars to five New Zealand National Basketball League title, and was made an Honorary Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2003 New Year Honours, for services to basketball in that country.
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