Ateneo to DOLE: No employer-employee relations with Tab Baldwin
MANILA, Philippines — Ateneo de Manila University told the Department of Labor and Employment that former men's basketball coach Tab Baldwin was a consultant, not an employee, as the agency weighs whether he was required to secure an alien employment permit.
Ateneo's lawyers, Krisha Santos and Philippe Quimbo, made the position during a clarificatory hearing before DOLE on Thursday, July 9. The hearing was held to determine Baldwin's employment status and whether he needed an alien employment permit, or AEP.
Ateneo submitted to the panel led by Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino a document dated September 2025, which its lawyers said was the last consultancy agreement between Baldwin and the university.
When Tolentino asked the lawyers to distinguish an employment contract from a consultancy agreement, Santos said Baldwin was a specialist who had discretion to perform the assigned work in his own manner, unlike an employee whose "means and methods" of work may be controlled by an employer.
"The university's agreement with Coach Baldwin is a consultancy agreement and not an employment contract. The university contracted him because of his well-regarded coaching expertise," Santos said during the hearing, which was livestreamed by DOLE.
Quimbo also argued that Ateneo did not control Baldwin's coaching methods, citing what he described as the absence of the "most important" element of an employment relationship: the employer's power of control.
"For your consideration, the Ateneo de Manila does not control the means and methods of how Coach Tab Baldwin conducts his training programs... Ateneo never had the power to control Coach Tab's way of coaching the Ateneo de Manila," Quimbo said.
Tolentino asked whether Ateneo paid Baldwin, but the university's lawyers said they were not aware of the source of his compensation because they had not coordinated with the people who drafted the contract or the university's in-house counsel.
Ateneo's lawyers said the sponsors of the men's basketball team, mainly providing funds, could "possibly" be the source of Baldwin's compensation.
Employment permit issue
Lawyer Jose "Dong" Feliciano also appeared before the panel as a witness.
Feliciano's name was mentioned during the first hearing as the lawyer who advised Baldwin that permanent residents are exempt from securing an alien employment permit.
Baldwin disclosed during the earlier hearing that he had not held an AEP since 2013.
Feliciano told the panel that he assisted Baldwin in securing a quota immigrant visa and an alien certificate of registration from the Bureau of Immigration.
"I was advised to get the proper visa for Coach Tab not in an employer-employee capacity but in this case as an immigrant or as a permanent resident," Feliciano said.
Feliciano said Baldwin first arrived in the Philippines as a tourist and later expressed his desire to reside permanently in the country, leading him to pursue permanent residency.
"When we secured the quota immigrant visa for Coach Tab back in 2015, we did not apply for an alien employment permit because it is our position that as a permanent resident, as a resident alien, he's exempted from alien employment permit," Feliciano said.
Tolentino, however, said alien employment permits are still required from holders of alien certificates of registration under the Omnibus Rules implementing Article 40 of the Labor Code.
Ateneo was directed to submit a memorandum and the necessary documents within seven days before DOLE resolves the case.
"We will be very judicious and fair as to whether Coach Tab Baldwin violated or disregarded existing laws, rules and regulations of the DOLE, particularly Article 40 of the Labor Code of the Philippines," Tolentino said.
Aurora deaths. The DOLE hearings stemmed from the deaths of Ateneo student-athletes Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili during a team-building activity in Aurora.
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group has recommended the filing of homicide and anti-hazing complaints against Baldwin and other members of the coaching staff in connection with the incident.
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