Ateneo president still focused on supporting families, will face question of remaining in post 'at a certain point'

“Does your conscience tell you that you can remain as president of Ateneo de Manila University in the wake of this generational crisis that has done irreparable harm to our reputation?”

This question was posed by a member of the University's Theology Department to University President Fr. Bobby Yap SJ, as Ateneo deals with the deaths of student-athletes Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili.

Yap said the focus at the moment remains on supporting the families of the two players.

“Right now, we’re still dealing with the Baterbonias… We’re talking with the Adili family, and his father is coming soon,” Yap said during a town hall meeting on Tuesday.

“I talk to my Provincial. I follow his orders. At a certain point, I will face that question.”

“What I’m saying is now, I cannot make that dramatic move — if that is the discernment that's needed, if that's what I am asked to do — because right now there are so many things going on," he added.

At the time, the Ateneo was also coordinating transferring Adili's wake from campus to Arlington Memorial Chapels. The body will also be repatriated back to Nigeria.

Earlier, the Society of Jesus in the Philippines said it would “vow everything we can do to support them in this time of grief.”

The Jesuits also expressed confidence in their institutions’ response to the tragedy. Philippine Jesuits Provincial Fr. Xavier Olin, SJ, said he had spoken with Loyola Schools leadership “to see how in this devastating experience we may better live out the Ignatian values we teach others.”

—Justin Kenneth Carandang/JMB, GMA News