Director BB Gandanghari and a team of Mindanao-based filmmakers are ready to begin work on a movie about Rene Clert “Bobet” Baterbonia, the Ateneo basketball recruit who drowned in Aurora in June, according to Senator Robin Padilla.
Writing on Facebook on Saturday, the senator made it clear the project would not be abandoned.
“Hindi po tayo bumibitaw sa paglalahad sa pamamagitan ng pelikula ang buhay ni Rene Baterbonia,” Padilla said.
Baterbonia, 18, hailed from Talacogon, Agusan del Sur, and had built a reputation as one of Mindanao’s brightest young basketball talents before moving to Ateneo de Manila University. Suiting up for the Davao Region at the 2025 Palarong Pambansa, he helped the squad take the boys’ basketball title and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. That same year, he was also a member of the Philippine team that captured basketball gold at the ASEAN School Games in Brunei.
He was set to see action for the Blue Eagles in UAAP Season 89.
On June 8, Baterbonia and teammate Divine Adili, 21, drowned while the team was holding a team-building activity in Dipaculao, Aurora. Police later said a post-mortem examination showed Baterbonia died of asphyxia by drowning.
Gandanghari, Padilla’s sister, had floated plans for a biopic weeks after the tragedy. In July, she announced on Instagram that a search was underway for the actors who would portray Baterbonia and his parents, Rovelyn and Rene. She had also visited the grieving family and extended help to them, noting that it was Padilla who first made her aware of their situation.
In the same Saturday post, Padilla accused unnamed parties of squeezing the project financially and of dragging politics into the entertainment industry, describing them as oppressors who claim to be decent people.
“Kahit ginigipit na po tayo kahit sa usaping pinansyal ng mga mapaniil na mga nagsasabing sila ay matitinong tao at pati mundo ng industriya ng entertainment ay kanilang pinupolitika,” he said.
The senator did not say whom he was referring to, nor did he explain what form the alleged financial pressure had taken.
