There’s a saying that goes, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

So that’s what happened to Ateneo de Manila University’s (ADMU) men’s basketball team. It judged the student-athletes’ basketball skills by their ability to swim. Related: Mindanao grieves Agusan Sur Rene Clert Baterbonia

ADMU should have recruited swimmers, not basketball players. Coach Tab Baldwin telling them how to survive rip currents? What the hell? Was that revelation meant to appease the families of Rene Baterbonia and Divine Adili? “Oh, Baldwin did teach them about rip currents, so it wasn’t his fault then.” For God's sake, ADMU. No wonder your initial statements were so cold. They matched the cold rip currents and huge waves of Dipaculao.

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ADMU, now that you’re finally facing the cameras, which you should have done on day one when Baterbonia and Adili drowned and died, we realize you’re better off not saying anything at all. The more you dig in, the more it seems like you’re running away from command responsibility: the basketball players tried to rescue their teammates but failed; Tab Baldwin told them how to swim through rip currents, but they didn’t learn soon enough. Read: Where na you, ADMU?

First of all, ADMU, you approved the Dipaculao team-building, er, team-killing. That’s where it all started. If only the Blue Eagles could really fly like real eagles, then Dipaculao would have been easy. Oops, rip currents, huge waves, flying outta here. But they couldn’t fly. They could jump on any basketball court, but they couldn’t fly. Some of them, like Adili, couldn’t even swim. What parents should ask before any training camp

So ADMU, it’s time to recruit swimmers for your basketball team, and basketball players for your swimming team. Talk about an epic fail.

ADMU is on the wrong side of the education business. It should be a military school instead, like the Philippine Military Academy, where ADMU’s “band of brothers” would be more fitting. In case you were not born yet when “Band of Brothers” started airing on HBO in 2001, the series tells the story of soldiers and how they survived World War II.

Basketball players are not recruited to become soldiers. They’re recruited for their basketball skills to help ADMU win championships. This makes the Dipaculao team-building, er, team-killing, as unnecessary as teaching fish how to climb trees.

ADMU’s President Fr. Bobby Yap used to be the president of Xavier Ateneo. At the turnover ceremony of Xavier Ecoville, Xavier Ateneo’s resettlement village for Sendong survivors in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Philippines, years ago, he and then Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno and I were standing beside each other, waiting for the program to start. He then nudged Moreno, pointed at me, smiled, and told him, “Your favorite columnist.” And the three of us laughed -- Student-Athlete safety under scrutiny after camp tragedy.

Fr. Bobby often opened his speeches by relating this story of people asking him if he’s the brother of Richard Yap, who was then at the height of his showbiz popularity. No, he’s not.

That’s how I remember Fr. Bobby: baby-faced, soft-spoken, looks young for his age. That’s why I couldn’t connect the current ADMU president with the former Xavier Ateneo president I remember. Who’s this guy now? Who’s controlling him?