The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Thursday, June 11, said it will investigate whether or not there are persons who should be held accountable for the deaths of Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) college basketball team members Rene Clert Baterbonia and Divine Adili.

NBI Director Melvin A. Matibag made the assurance even though police has issued a result of its own investigation which found no foul play in the deaths of the two athletes.

“Such a finding speaks to the absence of intentional harm,” said Matibag.

“It does not, by itself, answer a separate and equally consequential question under our laws: whether these deaths resulted from negligence in the conduct of the activity,” he pointed out.

Citing Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code, he said death caused by reckless or simple imprudence is “a criminal matter wholly independent of any intent to harm.”

“An event may be ‘accidental’ in the sense that no one wished it, and yet remain the product of a failure to exercise the care the law demands,” said the NBI chief.

Baterbonia, 19, and Adili, 21, were reported to have drowned last June 8 during a team building activity in Dipaculao, Aurora.

“Where an activity is organized and sanctioned by a school for its student-athletes, those who plan, supervise, and conduct it owe the participants the diligence of a good father of a family — the standard of ordinary care fixed by Articles 1173, 2176, and 2180 of the Civil Code,” cited Matibag.

“Among the angles now under examination is whether that standard was met: whether the hazards of the location and the condition of the sea were properly assessed, whether adequate safeguards and supervision were in place, and whether the chain of events that claimed these two lives reflects a breach of the duty owed to those entrusted to the institution’s care,” he said.

Matibag assured that the NBI is not disregarding the findings of the Aurora Police Provincial Office nor does the bureau’s investigation target any institution including the ADMU.

H reminded that it has been tasked by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct a deep probe of their deaths including if foul play is involved.

“We will proceed with objectivity, without prejudgment, and in full coordination with the Philippine National Police and the appropriate authorities,” assured the director.

“We ask the public to refrain from speculation that prejudices either the families or those who may become the subject of inquiry, and to allow the facts to be established with the care this loss deserves,” he added.