Metro Manila, Philippines – Former basketball coach Tab Baldwin was not an employee of Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) but an “independent contractor,” the counsel for ADMU President Fr. Roberto Yap, SJ, said on Thursday, July 9.
The Department of Labor and Employment held its second clarificatory hearing on Baldwin’s work status, though Yap was absent as he was at the Senate committee on basic education and a council meeting.
Krisha Santos and Philip Quimbo, Yap’s counsel, said the university contract did not give it authority over the former coach and his training programs. He described Baldwin’s contract as a consultancy agreement.
Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino pointed out that the document included base compensation subject to withholding tax, housing and transportation allowance, and even a termination clause.
The contract also contained a non-compete agreement, blocking him from coaching other teams.
“He was hired for his specialized skills in coaching a basketball team…The most important element in an employment contract is the power to control and we respectfully submit that Ateneo never had the power to control Coach Tab’s way of coaching Ateneo de Manila,” Quimbo said.
During the first hearing on June 29, US-born Baldwin admitted that he did not have an alien employment permit that should have allowed him to work in the country.
The DOLE began its inquiry on Baldwin’s work permit after student athletes Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili drowned during a team building in Dipaculao, Aurora on June 8.
Baldwin and other members of the Ateneo coaching staff may face homicide and hazing charges over the tragedy.
READ: CIDG recommends homicide charges vs. Tab Baldwin, 8 others
