DOLE issues subpoena against Ateneo basketball coach Tab Baldwin
The Department of Labor and Employment has issued a subpoena against Ateneo de Manila University men's basketball team head coach Tab Baldwin.
"I just issued a supeona...On Monday, at 10 a.m., I would want in my presence coach Tab Baldwin of Ateneo," said DOLE Secretary Francis Tolentino during a press conference on Thursday.
"The Department of Labor, under Article 40 is empowered to scrutinize the employment status of a foreign national," Tolentino said, citing the Labor Code.
"No foreign national working in this country is above the law, regardless of the status, reputation or the institution they represent. Coach Baldwin is employed in the Philippines, and subject to Philippine labor laws…The DOLE will simply do its job verifying that he holds a valid and current alien employment permit..." he added.
"If he is compliant, there is nothing to fear. If he is not, then the department will act accordingly," Tolentino said.
He assured the subpoena is not about persecution, just the rule of law.
According to Tolentino, the show-cause order against Baldwin, who holds both US and New Zealand citizenship, falls squarely under the secretary's administrative order concerning alien employment permits.
Baldwin and AdMU have been at the center of controversy since June 8, when two members of the Ateneo men's basketball team, Rene Baterbonia, 19, and Divine Adili, 21, passed away in a drowning incident. The players were undergoing a team-building activity at a resort in Dipaculao, Aurora when the tragedy took place.
Numerous agencies and organizations have launched simultaneous probes of the incident, including Aurora police, the Dipaculao local government, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Philippine Sports Commission.
Police have initially ruled out foul play.
Baterbonia is currently lying in repose at the Arlington Memorial Chapels in Quezon City. His family will bring his remains home to Agusan del Sur on June 12.
The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the Philippines is processing the repatriation of Adili's remains to Nigeria.
The families of both victims have requested autopsies to be conducted.
