AT A GLANCE
- The tragic deaths of Ateneo basketball players Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili highlighted deficiencies in the university's athletic policies.
- CHED's CMO No. 13 aims to regulate collegiate athletics and establish accountability among educational institutions, athletic associations, and stakeholders, emphasizing the protection and welfare of student-athletes.
First of 2 parts
After a team-building activity in Dipaculao, Aurora, led to the deaths of Ateneo basketball players Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili on June 8, the tragedy exposed weaknesses in the university’s response, as well as gaps in its athletic policies and practices.
But just a week before the incident, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) was set to operationalize Republic Act No. 10676, otherwise known as the Student-Athletes Protection Act, which was signed into law by former president Benigno Aquino III in 2015.
CHED’s Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 13, Series of 2026, signed on June 1, seeks to regulate collegiate athletic organizations.
“CMO 13 was not cited in the tragic Ateneo incident because it was not released prior to June 8, but it was already done by March,” said Dr. Lorenzo Lorenzo, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) representative who helped draft the CMO.
“[Crafting the CMO] took us around six to eight months and was not only participated in by the NCAA and UAAP, but also almost all athletic associations in the country,” added Lorenzo, who’s also the vice president for administration of Emilio Aguinaldo College.
“We could say it was carefully studied, but it was quite unfortunate we were not able to use this measure during the incident.”
Section 9 of the decade-old law mandated CHED to operationalize it through a memorandum order, but it took the agency almost 11 years to release one.
“It is not a reaction to [the] Ateneo [tragedy]. Unfortunately, it was released late. Why? Of course, CHED had to go through many administrative procedures that’s quite complex,” Lorenzo said.
The CMO notes that one of its objectives is to “strengthen accountability among HEls [higher education institutions], Athletic Associations, Student-Athletes, other individuals or organizations, and all concerned stakeholders.”
Section 8 of the CMO also lists its scope, covering the student-athletes’ “activities, procedures, requirements, and processes,” whether “conducted on-campus or off-campus.”
The deaths of Baterbonia and Adili sparked public outrage and prompted probes, not just by the Ateneo de Manila University and the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), but also by the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and the Senate.
Last August, the UAAP “perpetually banned” Ateneo men’s basketball coach Tab Baldwin and also indefinitely suspended team manager Epok Quimpo and several members of the coaching staff.
The Department of Labor and Employment, meanwhile, slapped Ateneo and Baldwin a P4.9-million administrative fine as the American-Kiwi coach lacked proper work permits.
“Very unfortunate, very tragic. We continue to mourn the loss of two lives. And it has derailed some of the best laid plans of mice and men, but nevertheless, we should not put the lives of Rene and Divine to waste,” said UAAP executive director Rebo Saguisag.
“We have to learn from it and we have to tighten our protocols, our rules, to ensure that it does not happen again. And I believe that’s one way of honoring the lives of Rene and Divine.”
Injury, death protocols
NCAA basketball commissioner Rico Paolo Quicho said one of the salient points of CMO No. 13 is the “imposition of clear responsibilities” on schools, leagues, coaches, and administrators.
“[The CMO] establishes a comprehensive legal framework that places student-athletes — not competitions — at the center of collegiate sports governance,” said Quicho.
In sections 21 and 22, he noted, all public and private schools are “required to implement comprehensive student-athlete support systems,” including injury and death protocols, off-campus activity compliance, insurance coverage, and socio-emotional and mental health services.
The memorandum also states that incidents must be reported to their respective schools and the CHED within 48 hours, and investigations and appropriate penalties must be conducted within a week.
Findings must be submitted to the CHED within 15 days upon completion of the investigation.
“These practices should be, I believe, primarily under the purview of each of the member schools under the in loco parentis (in the place of a parent) rule,” said Saguisag.
“They’re the substitute parents while in their care. We, in the UAAP, are responsible during the games, and that is what we have been focusing on.”
Lorenzo said the NCAA, in compliance with the memorandum, has already set plans to teach sports officials and athletes basic safety protocols.
“What’s most important now is to ensure the safe competition environment. Right now, we’ve set a seminar on first aid; how to deliver first aid to players among referees and officials. So right then and there, they already know what to do,” he said.
Lorenzo recalled a 2024 incident in NCAA men’s basketball when Lyceum basketball star JM Bravo had a convulsion on court following an accidental head collision.
“If you remember, when he collapsed, nobody knew how to handle it right away,” Lorenzo said. “So now, we’ll have a seminar with the referees and the student-athletes. We’ll train them because the awareness and basic skills in first aid are important.”
“Aside from that, we’ll continue to strengthen our advocacy not just on-season, but also during preseason and postseason — that when they join competitions or leagues, they should ensure the safety standards and protocols of the players,” he added.
CHED said alongside the “protection and promotion of the rights and welfare” of student-athletes, the memorandum aims to address other issues in amateur leagues, including commercialization and exploitation.
“The memorandum reflects a significant policy shift by emphasizing institutional accountability,” Quicho said.
“Rather than placing the burden solely on student-athletes, it imposes affirmative duties on [higher educational institutions], athletic associations, coaches, administrators, and CHED itself to establish systems that promote academic success, physical and mental health, ethical sports governance, transparency, and effective grievance mechanisms,” he added.
Quicho said among the CMO’s “strongest innovation is its detailed regulation against commercialization,” as well as “unethical recruitment and poaching” and “retaliatory actions” by schools against transferring student-athletes.
CHED lists specific rules, mainly pointing out that “institutions bear primary responsibility for safeguarding student-athletes.” (To be concluded) – Rappler.com
NEXT: Part 2 | No cars, no condos: CHED sets limits on student-athlete perks
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Facts Only
Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili, Ateneo basketball players, died on June 8 following a team-building activity in Dipaculao, Aurora.
CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 13, Series of 2026, was signed on June 1 to regulate collegiate athletic organizations.
Republic Act No. 10676 (Student-Athletes Protection Act) was signed in 2015.
The UAAP perpetually banned coach Tab Baldwin and indefinitely suspended team manager Epok Quimpo and other coaching staff in August.
The Department of Labor and Employment fined Ateneo and Tab Baldwin P4.9 million due to a lack of proper work permits.
CMO No. 13 requires institutions to implement student-athlete support systems, including injury and death protocols and insurance.
Incidents under CMO No. 13 must be reported to schools and CHED within 48 hours.
Investigations and penalties must be conducted within one week of an incident.
Final investigation findings must be submitted to CHED within 15 days.
The NCAA has scheduled first aid seminars for sports officials and athletes.
Executive Summary
The deaths of two Ateneo basketball players during an off-campus activity have exposed critical gaps in university athletic policies and triggered a wider regulatory shift in Philippine collegiate sports. While the tragedy occurred shortly after the signing of CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 13, the directive was not yet operational at the time of the incident. This new regulation seeks to shift the focus of collegiate sports governance from competition to athlete welfare, establishing clear accountability for higher education institutions, coaches, and athletic associations.
The fallout has resulted in severe sanctions, including the perpetual ban of coach Tab Baldwin by the UAAP and significant administrative fines from the Department of Labor and Employment. To prevent future tragedies, the NCAA and other bodies are implementing safety protocols and first-aid training. The broader objective of the new CHED framework is to protect student-athletes from exploitation and commercialization while ensuring a comprehensive support system for their physical and mental health, regardless of whether activities occur on or off campus.
Full Take
The strongest version of this narrative is that a preventable tragedy served as a catalyst for enforcing a decade-old law, finally replacing a "competition-first" culture with a regulated "athlete-first" framework. The transition from the 2015 Student-Athletes Protection Act to the 2026 CMO highlights a systemic failure in administrative agility—taking 11 years to operationalize a mandate—suggesting that bureaucratic inertia often outweighs student safety until a crisis occurs.
The paradigm here is one of "reactive governance." The regulatory response is framed as a way to honor the deceased, yet the timing reveals that the protections were already drafted but remained unreleased. This echoes a pattern where institutional accountability is only codified after public outrage and high-profile casualties make the status quo untenable. By focusing on "administrative procedures" as the reason for the delay, the narrative subtly shifts the blame from negligence to bureaucracy.
The implications for human agency are significant: student-athletes are moved from a position of vulnerability to one of legal protection. However, the second-order consequence may be an increase in "compliance-based safety"—where schools follow the letter of the CMO to avoid fines rather than fostering a genuine culture of care.
Bridge Questions:
1. If a law took 11 years to operationalize, what other safety mandates are currently dormant in the Philippine education system?
2. Does the imposition of administrative fines and bans address the root cause of the safety failure, or does it merely provide a public performance of accountability?
Counterstrike Scan: A bad actor would weaponize this narrative by framing the government as lethally incompetent to incite distrust in CHED. The actual content does not match this; it focuses on the specific regulatory remedy and the transition toward better standards.
Patterns detected: none