The Ateneo Blue Eagles are still reeling from the deaths of teammates Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili. And instead of finding comfort from their school, they've been met with silence and stonewalling.
In a sharp opinion piece published Thursday, Rappler columnist John Nery tore into the university administration. He accused them of creating a culture of entitlement around the basketball program, then abandoning the young survivors when tragedy struck.
"They are victims, survivors who will have to overcome endless replays of a nightmare," Nery wrote. "Their loyalty to a university and a sweet game that once offered so much privilege and adulation now grapples with the reality of abandonment."
The two Blue Eagles died on June 7 during a team-building trip in Aurora province. The activity involved swimming in rough waters. Several players have since said they had no swimming training and weren't given life vests.
Kieffer Alas and Sam Reyes, two players who survived, have spoken publicly about fearing for their lives. Rene Baterbonia's mother says she never signed a waiver for the trip — a claim the university hasn't denied.
Nery pointed to a devastating admission during a town hall meeting on Tuesday. Athletics coordinator Benjo Afuang told students and faculty that the university's athletics department had no role in approving the team-building activity.
"The answer there is that university athletics had no hand in approving the team-building activities," Afuang said, according to Nery.
This revelation has deepened the anger within the Ateneo community. Students, alumni, and faculty have been demanding answers since the tragedy. But Nery says the administration treated them as a hostile force.
"Think about that: Ateneo students in the middle of a maelstrom," he wrote. "On one hand, a public, shaped by generational inequities and weaned on the teat of disinformation, snarling at youth they perceive as representatives of the powers that have crushed them... These youth, meanwhile, were shunned by their own elders."
The columnist also took aim at head coach Tab Baldwin, who is now under an immigration lookout order. Nery questioned how the team could operate with such little oversight from the university.
Ateneo president Fr. Bobby Yap has insisted that the university "owns and manages" the Blue Eagles. But the athletic director told law enforcers that the team operated under the sports foundation of billionaire Manny V. Pangilinan, with Smart Communications as the main benefactor.
Pangilinan's camp denied that claim, though it acknowledged that team manager Epok Quimpo is its employee.
Nery said the university's response has been focused on promising material aid to the bereaved families while dodging the issue of accountability. He called it "the worst damage-control campaign this country has seen in a long, long time."
"Who thought brotherhood would be best served by having young men — including some with no swimming knowledge — tread rough water without safety vests, and without any training beyond a lone briefing?" he asked.
The Blue Eagles are scheduled to return to action in the UAAP season later this year. But for the survivors, the real battle is just beginning — one against survivor's guilt and the feeling of being abandoned by the institution they once trusted.