DOLE to subpoena Ateneo officials over Tab Baldwin work status, lack of foreign work permit

Metro Manila, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment on Monday, June 29, said it would subpoena officials of the Ateneo de Manila University to attend next month’s special panel hearing into the work status of former men’s basketball team head coach Tab Baldwin.

During the Monday hearing, US-born Baldwin admitted that he did not have an alien employment permit (AEP), which allows foreign nationals to work. He began working as a basketball coach in 2013. 

Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino said that the Bureau of Local Employment did not have any record of Baldwin’s AEP.

The former coach said that he received a partially filled AEP form in 2015 but said he did not remember filling out the document completely. 

Baldwin’s counsel argued that he is exempt from securing an AEP because he had acquired an Alien Certificate of Registration (ACR), giving him the status of permanent resident. 

“Him [Baldwin] being a permanent resident visa holder, we submit, is what exempts him from the AEP requirement,” the counsel said.  

In January 2025, the DOLE made it mandatory to secure a certificate of exemption for foreign nationals. The panel said that Baldwin never applied for the exemption.  

“At the time, his permanent resident visa status was vested to him. There was no requirement for Mr. Baldwin to secure a certificate of exemption,” his counsel said.  

The DOLE launched its probe on Baldwin’s work status after student-athletes Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili drowned during a men’s basketball team building in Dipaculao, Aurora on June 8. 

The Department of Interior and Local Government and the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group recommended hazing charges against Baldwin and 10 other members of the coaching staff in relation to the student deaths.