Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, one of the country’s staunchest advocates of Philippine sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea, passed away on Tuesday, He was 83.
“The family of Ambassador Albert Ferreros del Rosario is deeply saddened to announce his passing today, April 18,” his family said in a statement.
“The family requests privacy during this difficult time. Details will be released at a later date,” the statement added.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said Del Rosario, who spearheaded the Philippines successful arbitration case against China in 2016, died while en route to San Franciso.
“Please pray for the eternal repose of the soul of Ambassador del Rosario, who passed away on April 18, 2023 at the age of 83. He was a MAP member for 45 years. Wake and internment details will be announced later,” the management group, which he was president of in 2007, said in a statement.
The former DFA chief contributed many opinion articles and thought pieces on the maritime issue and national defense in general to several publications, including the Manila Standard.
He was also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Stratbase ADR Institute, providing guidance and direction to the numerous policy studies and advocacies that the Institute advances.
“It is with profound sadness that we at the Stratbase Group offer our deepest condolences to the family of our beloved Chairperson, Ambassador Albert F. del Rosario,” the organization said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.
“It has been an honor to work with a leader who personified the highest level of statesmanship, integrity, and love of country that has inspired us to sustain the strategically critical advocacies of the Stratbase Albert del Rosario Institute for Strategic and International Studies,” it added.
“(Del Rosario) has been a champion of democratic values and a rules-based international order to sustain lasting peace, security, and prosperity for all. He has fought for an independent foreign policy that prioritizes the interests of the country and of the Filipino people.”
“He believed that diplomacy is a great equalizer in international affairs and that each state had an equal voice in the global community regardless of their political, economic, or military capabilities,” it added.
“This is a shared passion that we are committed to honor and pursue. With heartfelt gratitude and love. Rest in peace, ADR,” Stratbase said.
Ambassador del Rosario was born in Manila to Luis del Rosario and Amparo Ferreros. His great grandmother Teresa Sempio was a sister of Felipa Sempio, the mother of Gregorio del Pilar. His grandfather, Judge Simplicio Sempio del Rosario, was a delegate to the Malolos Congress.
Albert del Rosario attended Xavier High School in New York City and subsequently graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics.
He was the former Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines from February 2011 to March 2016 under the administration of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III. He also served as Philippine Ambassador to the United States of America from October 2001 to August 2006.
Del Rosario-led arbitration case resulted in the 2016 legal victory for the Philippines where the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration declared illegal China’s massive claims over the South China Sea and upheld the country’s exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea.
During his stint as the country’s top diplomat, Del Rosario has endeared himself to many DFA employees and the Philippine media because of his mild manners, steady but firm policy positions, low voice and kind heart.
Del Rosario is survived by his wife, Gretchen, and their children.
In a GMA News report, the former DFA chief’s colleagues, officers and staff who worked with Del Rosario described him as a hands-on and hardworking diplomat — whether he is leading dangerous missions in war zones to oversee the evacuation of thousands of trapped Filipino workers, promoting the national interest, or defending the country’s territory in the South China Sea before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
Diplomats and employees said Del Rosario, who is among the wealthiest Cabinet member of then-President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, has refused to collect his monthly salaries while he was serving as DFA Secretary.
Instead, he quietly distributed his accumulated monthly pay equally to the more than 1,600, senior diplomats, officers, and employees of the DFA as cash gifts every Christmas since he assumed the post in 2011.
According to them, Del Rosario also used his own personal money to pay for the gasoline of the cars that he used at work and official functions.
In February 2016, Del Rosario has told then-President Aquino that he is stepping down from his post due to health reasons.
Del Rosario has long been suffering from a spinal problem, a debilitating condition, which worsened for several months before he stepped down from office. He went on medical leave in May 2015 for a back surgery in the United States which turned unsuccessful.
His health problems were further complicated by a previously undetected heart condition that required his doctors to hurriedly install a pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat in a Metro Manila hospital.
However, his health conditions did not discourage Del Rosario to perform his delicate tasks, including the repatriation of large numbers of overseas Filipino workers and residents who have been trapped in conflict-torn Arab states like Libya and Syria.
A strong critic of China, Del Rosario initiated the filing of a landmark Philippine government arbitration case that challenged the validity of China’s massive territorial claims in the South China Sea and sought to clarify the territorial entitlements of certain Chinese-occupied features under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas, or UNCLOS.
At present, the Philippine arbitration case has been praised as a rules-based and internationally accepted solution of the long-dragging conflict by several governments led by the United States, Japan, Australia, the European Union, but ignored by China due to what it described as “baseless” and “lacking in legal merit.”
On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands delivered a sweeping victory to the Philippines on the case it filed against China in 2013 and declared China’s claim over nearly the entire South China Sea as illegal. China does not recognize the ruling and insists indisputable historic rights over nearly the entire waters.
In June 2019, Del Rosario was barred from entering Hong Kong after being held by immigration authorities for six hours.
“Denied entry with no explanation after 6-hour hold,” Del Rosario, who was supposed to attend a business meeting there, said then.
But his health condition prompted him to finally decide to leave Aquino’s Cabinet earlier than planned. He originally intended to leave government at the same time with Aquino, whose six-year term ended in June 2016.
Del Rosario then told the media that he decided to set aside his businesses to serve in government out of his admiration for President Aquino, whom he describes as a man of integrity.
During his stint at DFA, Del Rosario crossed to war zones and to battle frontlines abroad to help oversee the rescue and repatriation of OFWs trapped in the crossfire.
A few days after he was appointed by Aquino as DFA chief in February 2011, Del Rosario immediately hit the ground running when he flew with a few diplomats to strife-torn Libya to lead the rescue of thousands of trapped OFWs. He traveled to Libya’s frontlines twice that year.
In his first mission, Del Rosario described how his convoy passed near an area where gunshots rang out and how he prayed for the workers with him in the convoy, saying he couldn’t live in peace if even one of them got hurt. They all survived.
Diplomats say Del Rosario kept them awake with coffee and burgers bought from a popular burger chain.
He also played crucial role in discreetly negotiating with Indonesian officials to spare Filipino worker Mary Jane Veloso from imminent execution by firing squad earlier in the year. He backed President Aquino’s quiet efforts to convince Indonesia’s top officials to save Veloso.
Veloso, a 30-year-old mother of two, was among the nine foreign and local death row prisoners, including Australians, scheduled to be executed by firing squad on April 29, 2015 for drug-related charges. All eight were executed, but Veloso was spared from death at the last minute.
With his advocacy for a rules-based solution based on international laws on the South China Sea and other issues, Del Rosario emerged as a key and outspoken leader in the ASEAN, where some of his counterparts have traditionally taken conservative and safe but ineffective policy positions, according to diplomats.
Aside from his hyperactive foreign diplomacy work, many DFA reforms were initiated to ease public burdens, including the opening of DFA satellite offices in shopping malls to bring consular services, including passport applications, closer to the people.
Del Rosario was also implemented a merit-based promotion system at the DFA to filter out entry into the department of personnel endorsed by powerful politicians, bringing the number of those political appointees in the DFA at an all-time low during his watch.