Del Rosario laid to rest

MANILA, Philippines — Former foreign affairs secretary Albert del Rosario – patriot, consummate diplomat to the country and “memory-maker” to his family – was laid to rest yesterday.

Del Rosario’s friends, family, colleagues, diplomats and former officials during the administration of the late president Benigno Aquino III paid their last respects to the man who brought China to court over Beijing’s unlawful claims in the West Philippine Sea.

The funeral mass was officiated by Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, S.J. at the Santuario de San Antonio in Makati City.

Among the former government officials who attended the funeral mass were executive secretary Jose Rene Almendras, who succeeded Del Rosario when he resigned as DFA chief in 2016 due to health reasons, finance secretary Cesar Purisima and ambassador Jose Cuisia, as well as former senator Franklin Drilon.

Business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan, retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, former ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, Japanese Ambassador Kazuhiko Koshikawa and his wife, German Ambassador Anke Reiffenstuel and colleagues at the Department of Foreign Affairs also paid respects to Del Rosario.

His daughter, Inge, a doctor, said her Papa was a consummate memory-maker to her and their family.

She said her father considered the people, territory, government and sovereignty as the four important pillars of a state.

Del Rosario is remembered for bringing China to court over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

In a landmark ruling on July 12, 2016, The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) found no legal basis for China’s nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea.

The PCA said Beijing breached the sovereign rights of the Philippines.

In one of his speeches, Del Rosario said that no state, no matter how powerful, should be allowed to claim an entire sea as its own and to use force or the threat of force in asserting that claim.

“For no state should be permitted to write and rewrite the rules in order to justify its expansionist agenda,” he said.

Del Rosario’s grandson Josh shared memories with his grandfather while his granddaughter Erika sang “I Have a Dream” of the European band ABBA, with his favorite musician Jay Cayuca.