The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has recommended the filing of criminal cases against former Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) head coach Tab Baldwin and 11 others, including officials of the Aurora resort, in relation to the drowning of two student athletes on June 8.

The pieces of documents were already submitted to the Department of Justice on July 13 and it came days after the Philippine National Police (PNP) also recommended the filing of at least three criminal cases that also include violation of the Anti-Hazing Law in relation to the death of Rene Baterbonia and Divide Adili.

In the case referred by the NBI, the agency recommended the case of Reckless Imprudence Resulting in Homicide against Baldwin; strength and conditioning coaches Cesar Vincent Elumba and Grant Dearns; assistance coaches Reynaldo Jacinto, Jr., Dean Caesar Castaño, Sandro Nicholas Soriano and Hernan Ameer Domingo; and, physical therapist John Eric Ruesca.

The NBI explained that Baldwin conceived, planned, and directed the sea drill; and, chose the open, surf-exposed site for training with no life vest or medicine and rescue standby.

The agency also said Baldwin also knew a player could not swim yet provided only a verbal rip-current

As the conditioning coach, the NBI said Elumba’s accountability falls on his responsibility as the one who designed and led the regimen culminating in the sea drill, instituted no flotation or rescue safeguard against the manifest hazard while Dearns co-designed and conducted the drill but failed to abort or impose safeguards though non-swimmers and sea conditions made drowning foreseeable and preventable.

NBI investigators accused Jacinto of taking part in conducting the sea drill and ensuing rescue, yet, required no flotation or rescue capability and did not halt the activity; while Castaño participated in supervising and conducting the drill but omitted the basic safety measures the evident danger.

The same lapses were also seen for Soriano and Domingo.

For Ruesca, he allegedly allowed a non-swimmer to enter open surf with no medical or evacuation standby arranged, and he did not intervene—"an omission of the precaution his presence permitted.”

On the other hand, a case of negligence resulting in two counts of homicide were also recommended against athletic director Emmanuel Fernandez, and resort officials Francisco Zubia III, Frederick Zubia and Yedda Mary Rubio.

Based on the NBI probe, Fernandez carried the institutional, non-delegable duty to promulgate and enforce athlete-safety protocols, adding that his own negative certification shows no protocol, approved calendar, medical clearance, or consent existed.

As operations manager of the resort, the NBI said Francisco Zubia gave a careless favorable-sea assurance drawn from an Al application rather than a competent source, and failed to ensure the resort's lifeguard-accreditation, signage, and warning compliance.

Frederick Zubia, on the other hand, was accused of sharing the operational duty to maintain beach-safety measures and regulate guest access to the sea but failed to do so, as well as his alleged lack of knowledge of the specific drill.

Rubio, meanwhile, was accused of handling the booking and shared resort management and its safety duty but “the same failure of ordinary care contributed to the fatal outcome.”

The NBI also recommended administrative cases before the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) against the BPLO officer of the Municipal Tourism and Cultural Development Officer, and the head of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.

NBI investigators said the administrative cases referred were in relation to regulatory accountability for permitting a non-Tourism-accredited establishment and for non-enforcement of Ordinance on Standard Operating Procedure, Resort Safety Inspection, Lifeguard Safety, Etc.