Aurora resort owner, staff at NBI amid Rene Baterbonia, Divine Adili drowning probe

The owner and the staff of the resort in Dipaculao, Aurora, where the Ateneo de Manila University men’s basketball team held their team building activity, went to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Homicide Division on Thursday afternoon.

According to GMA News’ Marisol Abdurahman, the resort owner and staff were also accompanied by a lawyer as they provided information about the incident, which led to the passing of student-athletes Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili.

“Part of the briefing and the engagement, or the booking, is that there will be no photos or videos taken,” said lawyer Raymund Martelino, representing the resort management, in a report on "24 Oras."

But Martelino noted that some videos before the deaths of student-athletes Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili showed that it was just a normal team-building activity.

“Normal team-building activity. I’ve seen some videos, and they looked normal, happy,” he said.

The lawyer added that the team is already familiar with the conditions in the place, as it was not the first time they had booked the resort for a similar activity.

“The players are informed of the landscape and the challenges that they will be facing. In the resort itself, there are house rules and guidelines posted in every room…Very specific to rip tide or rip current,” said Martelino.

“Of course, all the necessary precautions were there. Again, let me reiterate that this is not the first time that the Ateneo men’s basketball team has stayed in the resort. They’ve been booking in the past three years na,” he added.

Martelino also noted that the resort has a lifeguard on standby.

Further, the lawyer echoed the previous police finding that there were no weights attached to bodies of Baterbonia and Adili.

“The video footage speaks for itself. Walang pabigat na nakita,” said Martelino.

For its part, the NBI said that it will deploy a task force to investigate all possible angles even though the police already said that there’s no foul play involved.

“It does not, by itself, answer a separate and equally consequential question under our laws: whether these deaths resulted from negligence in the conduct of the activity,” the NBI said in a statement.

“Under Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code, death caused by reckless imprudence is a criminal matter wholly independent of any intent to harm.”

The Aurora Provincial Police earlier said the Ateneo varsity players conducted their team-building activity about 300 meters away from the dry part of the beach, despite reportedly being advised by the resort management to hold the activity in the shallower waters just in front of the establishment due to sea conditions.

Police added the basketball team said they wanted to be left alone despite the advice and precaution from the resort management.

However, the police said there is no foul play involved as the 19-year old Baterbonia reportedly died from asphyxia by drowning based on a post-mortem examination certificate.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government on Thursday issued a subpoena to the basketball team’s coaches and players as part of the investigation. Likewise, the Department of Labor and Employment subpoenaed Tab Baldwin, the team’s American-New Zealander head coach.

Baterbonia was a standout from the recent Palarong Pambansa and was an incoming rookie for the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the upcoming UAAP Season 89.

Meanwhile, Adili, who hails from Nigeria, contributed quality minutes in the Blue Eagles' UAAP Season 88 campaign despite settling for a 6-8 win-loss record. —Vince Angelo Ferreras/RF, GMA News