Father of Divine Adili laments death of the Atenean athlete: 'Our hope was just taken away'
Elias Adili, father of the late Ateneo athlete Divine Adili, mourned the loss of his son, saying the family has been left feeling "hopeless" after his death.
In his interview with One News PH, Elias shared their family’s situation and Divine’s role in supporting them. He said that neither he nor his wife currently has a job, adding that Divine had been helping support the family.
"When he left for the Philippines, he promised us that he will take care of us...he's trying to make sure his siblings also do well in life. He's the breadwinner," Elias said. "We are [content] with whatever we get."
"What we're demanding now is for the school to do the right thing," he added. "Our hope was just taken away...we don't know where to start."
He shared that Divine was supporting his younger siblings, who are between 16 and 18 years old. "It's very very hard for the family," he lamented, adding that his siblings have been left feeling "hopeless" following Divine's death
"They are seriously pained, every day they cry after thinking the promises he made to them as soon as he graduated from Ateneo University," he added.
His brother, Jessy, whom their father said was Divine's closest sibling, fondly recalled how they used to watch NBA highlights together when they were younger.
He took pride in how good Divine was at basketball. "He won so many MVPs during his time here in Nigeria...I know my brother is a good player. He's not just a good player; to me, he was the best and an inspiration," Jessy said.
During his time at Ateneo, he recalled how Divine would regularly send him links to his games, which he always made time to watch. He also expressed dismay over the incident, saying it was especially heartbreaking because it could have been prevented.
"What happened has happened due to ignorance and negligence from the school," he told One News PH in an interview, saying that he had seen interviews from alumni saying that it's a normal training program.
"If at all they want to do this, there [are] so many pools that this training session could have taken place and not in a vast ocean," he lamented.
"I was really in pain because I didn't get to talk to my brother one last time," he said. He also appealed to Ateneo de Manila University to at least bring his brother back home safely.
"There's no amount of anything now that can bring him back. No amount of crying, no amount of anything. His absence should be felt," he added.
Elias shared that he has signed the forms he received for the autopsy and that they are now waiting for the results before bringing his remains back to Nigeria.
"What we're demanding now is for the school to do the right thing," he added. "Our hope was just taken away...we don't know where to start."
In his separate interview, he shared that he was able to talk to Divine over the weekend before the drowning incident that claimed the lives of his son and his fellow teammate Rene Baterbonia.
Team building tragedy
While participating in a team-building activity with the rest of their teammates at a resort in Dipaculao, Divine and Rene were carried away by a rip current. They were found 30-40 minutes later. A physician at an Aurora hospital declared them dead on arrival.
Initial findings by the Aurora police have suggested the incident was purely accidental, and ruled out foul play.
Multiple agencies have launched parallel investigations into the incident, including the Dipaculao local government, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Philippine Sports Commission.
After days of silence, Baldwin expressed his remorse in the incident via a video statement, stressing that he's also feeling the magnitude of their loss. "Never again will I be able to help them develop into the basketball players they wanted to be, to help them grow into the young men that they promised that they could be," he said. "But that's insignificant compared to what their families are experiencing."
"At that moment, I felt I had failed—I failed as a leader. I felt I had failed as a coach. I certainly felt like I had failed as a friend to Divine and Rene," he said.
