Tab Baldwin not an employee but a consultant, Ateneo tells DOLE

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Ateneo lawyers representing university president Fr. Roberto Yap says Tab Baldwin worked as the Blue Eagles' head coach under a consultancy agreement and not an employment contract

MANILA, Philippines — The Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) said there was no employer-employee relationship between the school and Tab Baldwin as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) continues to determine whether the former Blue Eagles head coach violated laws, rules, and regulations governing the employment of foreign nationals in the country. 

Representing Ateneo president Fr. Roberto Yap in a clarificatory hearing before the DOLE on Thursday, July 9, lawyers Krisha Santos and Philippe Quimbo said the university contracted Baldwin — a dual citizen of the United States and New Zealand — as a consultant. 

“In an employer-employee relationship, the employer has the power to control the means and methods of the employee’s work. On the other hand, a consultant like coach Baldwin is a specialist and he has the discretion to perform the work in a manner that he sees fit,” said Santos. 

“The university’s agreement with coach Baldwin is a consultancy agreement and not an employment contract.” 

Ateneo brought Baldwin in as the Blue Eagles head coach in 2015 while he called the shots for Gilas Pilipinas. Before moving to the Philippines, the 68-year-old coached the national teams of New Zealand, Lebanon, and Jordan. 

Baldwin, who led Ateneo to four UAAP championships, signed a three-year extension with the university in September 2025.

Santos and Quimbo presented the September 2025 document to DOLE, led by Secretary Francis Tolentino, who questioned why the agreement included guidelines for Baldwin to follow if the school exercised no control over the coach.

The agreement required Baldwin to conduct basketball clinics and participate in talks in university programs and prohibited him from endorsing or promoting the use of his picture or his name.

Also, Tolentino pointed out that Ateneo provided Baldwin housing allowance, transportation allowance, and monthly-based compensation. 

But Quimbo said such considerations are “normal for an independent contractorship” and that the duties and obligations listed in the agreement do not necessarily mean control. 

“The most important element in an employment contract is the power to control. And we respectfully submit, your honor, that Ateneo never had the power to control coach Tab’s way of coaching the Ateneo de Manila,” said Quimbo. 

“An independent contractor, as long as he’s able to control the means and methods of the performance of his duties, then there is no employer-employee relationship.” 

Baldwin told DOLE during the initial clarificatory hearing on June 29 that he has not obtained an alien employment permit (AEP) since he began coaching in the Philippines.

Lawyer Jose Feliciano, who assisted Baldwin in acquiring a quota immigrant visa and an alien certificate of registration (ACR) from the Bureau of Immigration, appeared before the DOLE on Thursday as a witness.

Feliciano said he found no need for Baldwin to apply for an AEP since the coach is already a resident alien and that Article 40 of the Labor Code requires only non-resident aliens to acquire an AEP. 

“We did not apply for an alien employment permit because it is our position, your honor, that as a permanent resident, as a resident alien, he is exempted from the alien employment permit,” said Feliciano.

Tolentino, though, argued that a resident alien who holds an ACR must still apply for an AEP under the Omnibus Rules implementing the Labor Code. 

Baldwin has been in hot water after supervising the AdMU Blue Eagles men’s basketball team building in Dipaculao, Aurora, where Ateneo student-athletes Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili drowned on June 8.

Tolentino said DOLE expects Ateneo to submit a memorandum within seven days. 

“Thereafter, together with the memorandum submitted by the counsel of coach Tab Baldwin, this case would be deemed submitted for resolution,” said Tolentino. – Rappler.com