Every few years, Ateneo produces a think piece about inequality in the Philippines. About the gap between the elite and the masa. About how institutions must serve the marginalized.
Rene Baterbonia was from Agusan del Sur. He was recruited because he was 6'4", won the Palaro MVP, and could help Ateneo win a UAAP title. He was the masa. He was the kind of kid those think pieces are supposedly written for.
He is now dead after drowning during an Ateneo-organized activity.
And the institution's response has been to ask for "privacy and space."
The gap between what Ateneo preaches and what Ateneo practices has never been more visible. Or more damning.