00:00Ateneo Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin ends his silence and addresses the deaths
00:05of basketball players Rene Baterbogna and Divine Adili.
00:08But mostly, as a coach, I'm entrusted by you, the parents, and the families
00:20with first and foremost their well-being.
00:25And in this, I feel I've failed.
00:32And, I'm sorry.
00:37To the depth of my being, I'm sorry.
00:42He calls the exercise a routine training in what they thought was shallow water.
00:46He also says the coaches and the players did everything they could to ensure that everybody
00:50arrived back on shore safely.
00:52And then we realized that we hadn't accomplished that.
01:01And in that moment, I experienced the descent into the darkest place imaginable.
01:15And yet, I knew at the same time that good people, people that had done an amazing job
01:24raising these two young men, were going to be in an even darker, more horrible place.
01:33At that moment, I felt, felt I had failed.
01:38I failed as a leader.
01:41I felt I had failed as a coach.
01:43I certainly felt like I had felt as a, failed as a friend to Divine and Rene.
01:50The video message comes four days after the incident.
01:53It also comes after Ateneo educators urged school officials and the Blue Eagles coaching
01:58staff to address the deaths in person.
02:01The open letter to Ateneo President Father Roberto Yap, titled When Ateneo Failed Its Own,
02:06seeks greater clarity and transparency from the university.
02:09The letter has gained over 400 signatures.
02:12The letter reads,
02:13We appeal for the university administration and coaching staff to come forward in person
02:18with humility and acknowledgement of wrongdoing and lapses in judgment, risk mitigation,
02:23communication, and most especially, care for our students.
02:27The educators also raised questions, including whether the parents and guardians were informed
02:31of the nature of the team building, if there were safety measures put in place, and what
02:36concrete measures of accountability have been done.
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