The mandate introduces a powerful, high-level legal track just one day after the Aurora Provincial Police Office publicly ruled out foul play, labeling the double fatality “purely an accident.”
The DOJ, via agency spokesperson Polo Martinez, clarified that the NBI Central Office will bypass standard local reporting to examine potential structural or supervisory failures during the team-building trip:
[ THE NBI CENTRAL JUSTICE OVERHAUL ]
│
┌───────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────┐
▼ ▼
[ TASK FORCE FORMATION ] [ THE CRIMINAL DETERMINATION ]
• **Thorough and Impartial:** The NBI has been instructed to form • **Evaluating the Evidence:** The newly mobilized task force will
a specialized task force to conduct a comprehensive assessment • assess physical evidence and witness testimonies to see if there
of the entire timeline. • is a sufficient basis to recommend formal criminal charges.
• **Establishing the Facts:** The DOJ emphasized that independent • **Justice Commitments:** *"The DOJ remains committed to ensuring
scrutiny is required to fully establish why the student- • that the facts are fully established and that justice is served,"*
athletes were placed in high-risk coastal waters. • the department's official briefer verified.
The federal intervention follows a sudden, fatal maritime incident that disrupted a private team training schedule along the coast of Aurora province on Monday afternoon, June 8, 2026:
[ THE DIPACULAO OPEN-WATER DISASTER ] │ ▼[ The Incident Timeline ]──► Around **2:40 p.m.**, members of the ADMU Blue Eagles basketball team were wading in waist-deep water roughly 300 meters off the coast of Barangay Lipit, Dipaculao. │ ▼[ Caught by the Current ]──► A powerful undercurrent swept four players into deep waters. While two athletes were successfully rescued by a lifeguard and teammates, two others were dragged away. │ ▼[ The Fatalities ] ──► **Rene Baterbonia (19)**, a standout rookie guard from Davao, and **Divine Adili (21)**, the team's prominent Nigerian center, were found unconscious 40 minutes later and pronounced dead.
As parallel investigations begin across the PNP, NBI, and local government units, conflicting reports regarding training conditions and team transparency are driving heavy public speculation.
| Investigation Parameter | Local Police / Resort Owner Accounts | Family Grievances / Public Allegations |
| Physical Restraints | Acting Aurora Police Chief Col. Percival Pineda stated responders found no weights on the victims’ feet or hands, and no physical bruises. | The rookie’s mother, Rovelyn Baterbonia, publicly questioned online why her son was allegedly made to swim with weights attached. |
| Team Coordination | Local police confirmed the resort had adequate warning signs, but noted the team kept their training exclusive and failed to coordinate with the LGU. | The coaching staff has kept the team isolated due to deep psychological trauma, sending only two representatives to give initial affidavits. |
| Legal Intent | The Aurora police quickly classified the incident as a natural, unexpected accident with zero foul play. | While the Baterbonia family is currently focusing on an autopsy, the DOJ’s NBI task force is actively building a file for potential negligence charges. |
“The National Bureau of Investigation Central Office has been instructed to create a task force to conduct a thorough, comprehensive, and impartial investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident… As part of its investigation, the NBI will determine whether there is sufficient basis to recommend the filing of charges before the DOJ,” the Department of Justice announced in an official executive release.
The Department of Justice’s decision to launch an independent NBI probe into the deaths of Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili is a necessary step toward true transparency. While local police were quick to label the drowning a “pure accident,” the fact that a high-profile university basketball team conducted open-water training 300 meters out without coordinating with the local government raises serious red flags about supervisor liability. Compounding the tragedy are the heartbreaking, conflicting claims from the Baterbonia family regarding training weights—suspicions that can only be laid to rest by the independent autopsy currently underway in Quezon City. As the Blue Eagles roster undergoes deep psychological counseling to process the shock, the NBI task force must cut through corporate and institutional sports boundaries to ensure that student-athlete safety is protected by law throughout 2026.