DAVAO CITY, Philippines – He arrived in Manila on June 4, ready to begin the next stage of his basketball path as a freshman rookie in the Ateneo Blue Eagles squad.
But four days later, the waves of Dipaculao took away the life of 18-year-old Rene Clert ‘Bobet’ Baterbonia and also another teammate, Nigerian Chukwuemeka Divine Adili, 21.
The tragedy has stirred an outpouring of sympathy to a young basketball standout from Talacogon, Agusan del Sur, who made his name from senior high school varsity in Ateneo de Davao to becoming the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for Davao Region’s basketball team that earned its first gold medal in the 2025 Palarong Pambansa.
Baterbonia’s passing has triggered investigations on the conduct of that ill-fated training camp in a resort in Dipaculao, Aurora, where athletes’ safety and first aid response was found lacking.
It also brought attention to the plight of student athletes recruited from far-flung communities such as Baterbonia, who leave their families as teenagers to pursue scholarships and later a career to uplift their families.
Fragile systems
It is a path that resonated beyond the tragedy of his drowning, writes human rights lawyer Antonio La Viña in his MindaNews column. It reflected a familiar story for many families in Mindanao.
“He did what Mindanao’s brightest have always had to do: he got on a plane to Manila, because the opportunities, the league, the exposure, the scholarship, and the pathway to the professional ranks are all there,” he wrote.
La Viña said the issue extends beyond sports, reflecting broader inequalities between the capital and the country’s outlying regions.
“It is not only that wealth is concentrated in the capital. It is that our children must be sent there, young and alone, into institutions and systems where their families have no presence, no information, and no power.”
Dr. Jean Lindo, chairperson of Gabriela Southern Mindanao Region, also wrote that Baterbonia’s story highlights how families facing economic hardship often invest their hopes in a single child whose success could transform their circumstances.
“Rene was a monitored child under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). He was a young man from Mindanao carrying the collective, desperate dream of his family to escape systemic poverty… When he drowned during a team-building activity, a family’s entire lifeline was instantly erased.”
“Our current neoliberal framework loves the narrative of the ‘exceptional poor’… But when we rely on the exceptional individual to save the family, the entire structure becomes incredibly fragile,” she added.
Exceptional
Some of Mindanao’s top basketball athletes have followed that path to success.
Among them is Scottie Thompson, who dominated local tournaments in Davao del Oro before playing for the University of Perpetual Help in the NCAA where he became the MVP. He later won championships and accolades in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and medals for the Philippine national team.
Another student athlete is Alvin Pasaol, a Davao City native who rose from provincial leagues to become one of the UAAP’s most prolific scorers for University of the East.
Another standout is Joel Diomar ‘JD’ Cagulangan from Butuan, who earned UAAP Finals MVP for leading the University of the Philippines to a championship.
Baterbonia was also on the way with that path. An exceptional young athlete towering at 6’4″, he was getting offers to play in Manila ever since in high school.
His senior high school coach, Jess Evangelio, recalled how his assistant coach mentioned about Baterbonia’s playmaking during an event in Agusan del Sur.
“Actually ang daming schools kumukuha kay Rene (There were many schools who wanted to recruit Rene), not just Ateneo de Davao but almost all Manila schools,” Evangelio said, recalling AdDU was the 30th school to offer him to play.
Evangelio said Baterbonia chose Ateneo when the university agreed to his request to include his younger brother, Rhenz “RB” Baterbonia, to study with him in Ateneo and play for the junior high varsity.
The arrangement was special, as Baterbonia looked beyond his scholarship opportunities and considered helping his siblings.
Vulnerable
But for former Bayan Muna representative and public interest lawyer Carlos Isagani Zarate, he argued that scholarship programs can create unequal power dynamics, particularly for athletes whose educational prospects are closely tied to their continued participation in sports.
“This issue is magnified when recruitment targets economically vulnerable youth… A young athlete dependent on a scholarship is less likely to question unsafe conditions or excessive demands. The dream itself becomes leverage.”
(https://davaotoday.com/headline/rene-and-divine-the-cost-of-a-dream/)
For Professor Rey Cuizon of the Educators Forum for Development Mindanao (EFD), noted how school sports programs “concentrates resources on a few promising talents rather than democratizing training opportunities and making them accessible to all Filipino youth.”
His group criticized how this has turned collegiate sports into an industry with school alumni providing multi-million peso engagements.
“The welfare of students takes a backseat as long as young talents continue to be produced, and sports entertainment yields profits,” Cuizon noted.
EFD said there is a need for a wholistic sports program for student athletes: “In a mass-oriented sports agenda, sports becomes a tool for promoting people’s health, constructive competition, nation-building, and a source of collective national pride.”
Accountability
During Baterbonia’s wake in Ateneo de Davao, its president Fr. Karel San Juan SJ has committed to fulfill his wishes for the family by offering full scholarship to his six siblings.
Meanwhile, five of Baterbonia’s teammates have spoken to the public in a university town hall forum and a podcast, revealing details of what happened during the training. Audience responded noting there was negligence on the coaching staff for putting the young lives in danger.
The Ateneo de Manila University accepted the resignation of the Blue Eagles coach Tab Baldwin. But many from its community, from its faculty, students to alumni, call for more accountability and reckoning on how to move forward.
La Viña, an alumni and former Ateneo professor, has suggested the university should consider withdrawing from the UAAP for this season to put their athletics development in order.
“There must be accountability. There must be personnel changes. Compensation must be given to the families. We should seriously consider withdrawing from the UAAP for one season,” he said.(davaotoday.com)
