{"id":479057,"date":"2026-06-15T22:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/479057\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T22:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:14:09","slug":"former-tall-blacks-coach-tab-baldwin-resigns-from-ateneo-de-manila-university-after-bootcamp-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/479057\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin resigns from Ateneo de Manila University after bootcamp deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ateneo Blue Eagles players, Divine Adili, 21, and Rene Baterbonia, 19, drowned during a team-building swimming exercise in Dipaculao, Aurora, northeast of Manila, on June 8.<\/p>\n

Baldwin recently broke his silence on the deaths, saying \u201cwe sent the players\u201d on a \u201croutine training run\u201d into what coaches believed was shallow water before the pair drowned.<\/p>\n

The college basketball coach gave his account of what happened in a pre-recorded message posted to the university\u2019s social media.<\/p>\n

He said staff sent players into what they thought was shallow water, but as soon as \u201cwe realised … they were in dangerous water\u201d, coaches and players did everything to try to get everyone back safely.<\/p>\n

When it became clear \u201cwe hadn\u2019t accomplished that\u201d, Baldwin said he descended \u201cinto the darkest place imaginable\u201d.<\/p>\n

The American-Kiwi coach has been subpoenaed by the Philippines Department of Labour.<\/p>\n

He was due to appear before Labour Secretary Francis Tolentino on Monday<\/a> to present proof of his work permit and detail the nature of the fatal training camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo foreign national working in this country is above the law,\u201d Tolentino said this week. \u201cThe family of Rene and Divine deserves answers, and they deserve accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Tall Blacks coach Tab Baldwin made his first public appearance since the deaths of two Ateneo Blue Eagles players. Photo \/ The Guidon<\/p>\n

The drownings have shocked the Philippines, prompting an outpouring of grief and widespread calls for accountability, with President Ferdinand Marcos jnr calling for an \u201cimmediate investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice is investigating the deaths, while a separate inquiry into the university\u2019s athletic programme and its safety standards is underway.<\/p>\n

Baldwin, who coached the Tall Blacks to a historic fourth place at the 2002 world championships was also inducted into the New Zealand Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ateneo Blue Eagles players, Divine Adili, 21, and Rene Baterbonia, 19, drowned during a team-building swimming exercise in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,240128,61583,8136,9072,1320,24828,15166,51029,2740,71,24473,111,139,69,4291,10702,147997,18994,17363,213,46687,30638,1528,540],"class_list":["post-479057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-after","tag-ateneo","tag-baldwin","tag-blacks","tag-bootcamp","tag-coach","tag-de","tag-deaths","tag-drowned","tag-former","tag-from","tag-manila","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-philippines","tag-players","tag-preseason","tag-resigned","tag-resigns","tag-sports","tag-tab","tag-tall","tag-university","tag-where"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}