Opinion: Demonizing the Survivors Is Not the Same as Seeking Justice

The deaths of Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili gripped the entire nation initially with shared grief and outrage. The young dying will always be premature and unimaginable, whether it happens to one’s immediate family or even when it befalls a complete and total stranger. More so when the tragedy could have easily been prevented or avoided by adults and institutions whose responsibility is to protect the youth. The scorn heaved at  the Ateneo basketball, leadership, and admin was not only expected but in some virtuous form of justice, probably deserved and warranted. 

But there is a huge difference between indignation at the failures, both real and perceived, of Ateneo, and wrath inflamed by figments conceived by wicked imagination. The former invites questions that lead to examination of existing processes, traditions, and conscience. The latter baits a tide of rage unsupported by truth and unrestrained by reason, and perhaps unbeknownst to those riding the wave, results to manufacturing villains among the innocent. 

Just two weeks after the catastrophe that took the lives of Rene and Divine in Dipaculao, Aurora, their deaths have been used by some as fodder to sow an even deeper-seated divide in a country already reeling from disunity. 

Bisayas pitted against the Tagalogs. The rich and privileged walking the campus on a hill in Loyola contrasted to a probinsiyano on whose shoulders weighed the hopes of his underprivileged family. Mindanao versus Metro Manila.  

It would have made for a compelling premise for a short story entry to the Palanca Literary Awards or a Maalala Mo Kaya episode.  

Only this was not fiction. This was real life where the collateral damage was inflicted on Rene’s and Divine’s Blue Eagle teammates, a number of whom have been painted wrongfully but seemingly not unintentionally, as the antagonists in this ongoing saga. Ateneo players have been indicted online for a number of trumped up sins, among them making Rene suffer due to their insecurity of him, hazing Rene that inadvertently led to his drowning, and plotting Rene’s demise. 

When some of them finally spoke up to shed light on what transpired, they were once again vilified. Liars, they were called. Scripted. Murderers. 

There were no villains and heroes among the players in this tragedy. Among the basketball and school officials and admin of the Ateneo, yes, there were villains, so many that one can form a Kontrabida Academy. Those who fostered a culture of winning above everything, including players’ safety and well-being. Those who turned an academic religious institution into an entity that cared more about marketing and became beholden to external benefactors. Those who chose first to keep quiet in the aftermath of the Aurora disaster before acknowledging accountability.  

The players, however, were mere victims of the gross negligence of a misplaced athletic culture allowed to fester by a Jesuit institution that has seemingly lost its way in its true purpose of molding young people according to the Ignatian spirit. Some players themselves also almost suffered the same fate as Rene and Divine and are lucky to be alive, their survival a blessing because any more death would have been one too many. Rene’s and Divine’s were already two deaths too many. 

The remaining Blue Eagles have had very little space to grieve the passing of their teammates and brothers in arms as they have had to fend off the vitriol hurled at them by netizens hellbent on finding Ateneans to lynch.  

Emotions flared when people found out what happened in Aurora. Ateneo’s handling of the crisis which vacillated between uncompassionate and incompetent heightened even more people’s sentiments. At a time when Ateneo needed to come clean and communicate to the families of Rene and Divine, it chose silence. 

When communication lacks clarity, people will start to interpret and speculate. When communication is totally absent, people will be forced to weave their own tales or listen to those who can present their version of the story, even if it is in the realm of fiction. Ateneo provided the unscrupulous opening to pour fuel to the fire that was burning from people’s anger.  

There is no reasoning with a mob, especially one hiding behind the cloak of online anonymity. The accusations against the players, when objectively scrutinized, defy logic and plausibility. Yet many still bought into it. The mind sees what it wishes to see. 

The players have been demonized, and they will remain vulnerable to these condemnations online for an undetermined length of time. Ateneo, too, will be the target of hate, virtually or otherwise, that will possibly last years. But it will survive. It has the coffers and the private sponsors to hire better-equipped and more capable communications practitioners to sanitize its name and help it weather the storm. 

But if Ateneo has learned some lessons in recent weeks, it should be to focus less on its name, brand, and marketing and instead, look toward those the online mob continues to harass. The young men of the BEBOB (Blue Eagles Band of Brothers) who will carry the rest of their lives the trauma of having been face-to-face with the deaths of Rene and Divine and being blamed for it. Other students who have had to deal with the ignominy of Ateneo’s actions and inactions. They all need the empathy, compassion, and protection that Ateneo fell short in providing to Rene and Divine and their families. 

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