00:00Ateneo basketball players Kiefer Alas and Sam Reyes believed they were going to die during the Blue Eagles team-building
00:06activity in Dipakulaw, Aurora, that claimed the lives of teammates Rene Baterboña and Divine Adili on June 8.
00:13Alas, an incoming rookie, and Reyes, an incoming junior, shared their side of the story on the Let's Talk with
00:19Pia Ontiveros podcast.
00:21The two said the players were asked to line up in Thai Deepwater for an exercise led by assistant coach
00:27Dean Castaño.
00:28Then a series of waves, which Reyes described as bigger than them, pulled them away from the shore.
00:33Alas remembers being with Adili and J.M. Leal as they clung to E.J. Capihe, but he later found
00:39himself on his own.
00:40He says he was underwater for more than 20 seconds and at that point, he had already given up.
00:46Meanwhile, Reyes said he tried to help Malcolm Tyler in keeping Ian Espinosa afloat, but fell into total panic as
00:52he feared for his life, having swallowed a significant amount of water.
00:55Alas and Reyes say they floated to conserve their energy and gradually made their way toward the shore.
01:01While most of the team made it safely back to shore, the grim realization that Baterboña and Adili were missing
01:06set in.
01:07In the interview, Alas and Reyes also appealed to the public for compassion as they continued to receive death threats
01:13from those who believed that they were responsible for the loss of Baterboña and Adili.
01:16The two also believed the lack of information released to the public drew the public's ire towards them.
01:22Meantime, the Justice Department issues an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order or ILBO against former Blue Eagles head coach Tab Baldwin.
01:29The following members of the coaching staff are also placed under immigration lookout.
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