Ateneo de Manila University President Roberto Yap (left) and resigned Ateneo men’s basketball coach Tab Baldwin —Screengrab from the Ateneo Facebook page
MANILA, Philippines — Ateneo de Manila University President Roberto Yap, SJ, apologized on Monday to the families of collegiate basketball athletes Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili, saying that the Ateneo leadership acknowledges the families’ “unbearable” pain over the deaths of the two students.
Baterbonia and Adili drowned during a school-sanctioned training activity at a beach resort in Dipaculao, Aurora province, on June 8.
“To the families of Rene and Divine, we see you, we hear you, we acknowledge the unbearable pain of your mourning, we know that the grief you carry right now is compounded by an anger that is entirely natural, justified,” Yap said in a press conference on Monday afternoon, exactly a week after the tragedy.
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