Tag: Albert del Rosario

Lacierda may yet get his dream of becoming foreign secretary

Published by Ellen on February 9, 2016

The resignation of Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, four months before the end of the Aquino administration, may yet pave the way for Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda to realize his dream of becoming foreign secretary.

Not many know Lacierda’s desire to be head of the much-coveted cabinet position. It was Mar Roxas, the presidential candidate of President Aquino and the Liberal party, who told an ambassador that Lacierda would be his foreign secretary.

Roxas, the envoy recalled, presented Lacierda to him: “Here’s your future boss.”

The envoy was taken aback, he replied, “I won’t be with the DFA anymore by that time.”

Funny. The envoy’s reply sounded like “I’m thankful I won’t be there when that disaster happens in the DFA.”

The envoy was thinking that it would happen after 2016 and assuming that Roxas would succeed Aquino.But that possibility doesn’t seem very likely because in the many surveys conducted of the presidential race for the May 2016 elections, Roxas has never topped one.

Del Rosario fights media battle while China controls battlefield

Published by Ellen on June 19, 2014

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario: his policy is to 'shame" China. — Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario: his policy is to ‘shame” China.

Statements coming from Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario betray helplessness over the situation in the South China Sea.

The Philippines is losing the battle that he led the country to wage against China.

Yesterday Del Rosario said that the Philippines will ask the United Nations Arbitral Court to hasten the resolution of the 2013 suit it filed questioning the legality of China’s nine-dash line map in the light of the latter’s expansion activities on islands they are occupying in the disputed areas of the Spratlys in the South China Sea.

Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza had said that they expect the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea to rule on both jurisdiction and merit of the Philippine claim “between 2015 to 2016.” China has refused to participate in the Philippine case.

Del Rosario engages in disinformation re coverage of MDT

Published by Ellen on May 1, 2014

Del Rosario: desperately clinging to Uncle Sam.

The day after U.S. President Barack Obama left Manila, Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario issued the following statement:

“Under the Mutual Defense Treaty, the United States will come to the assistance of the Philippines if our metropolitan territory is attacked or if our Armed Forces are attacked in the Pacific area.

“In 1999, in a diplomatic letter, the United States affirmed that the South China Sea is considered as part of the Pacific area.”

Del Rosario is pathetic. What is abhorrent about this is, he is resorting to disinformation. Either that or his geography is faulty: The Spratlys, the contested islands in the South China Sea, are not in the Pacific.

PH files Memorial in UN case vs China

Published by Ellen on March 30, 2014

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza.

By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files

The Philippines submitted its Memorial before the Arbitral Tribunal of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in The Hague, Netherlands in the suit it filed to nullify China’s 9-dash line map, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said today.

China’s reaction: http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/xwfw/s2510/t1142356.shtml

Del Rosario said the 4,000 page Memorial consisting of 10 volumes “demonstrates that the Arbitral Tribunal has jurisdiction “over the case and that every claim in the Statement of Claim filed on Jan. 22, 2013 “is meritorious.”

China’s 9-dash line map covers almost the whole of South China Sea and encroaches on several parts of Philippine territory.

MVP’s intriguing Christmas Party remark about Secretary del Rosario

Published by Ellen on January 7, 2014

A happy President Aquino and Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario.

At the Christmas Party of Metro Pacific Investment Corporation last month at J.W. Marriott Hotel in Hongkong, the company’s chairman, Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP) made special mention of Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario saying, “he will soon be rejoining us in the private sector.”

MVP’s remark intrigued other guests who asked each other, “Why, is he resigning?”

(Del Rosario’s statement on this article released in Malacañang: “In my talks with my trusted friend Manny Pangilinan, in December, he is fully supportive of my decision to continue in public service for as long as the President wishes for me to do so.”)

Actually, del Rosario had resigned twice in his almost three years as foreign secretary. (He served as ambassador to the United States during the time of Gloria Arroyo.) The first was in June 2012 after the standoff with China at Scarborough Shoal (also known as Bajo de Masinloc or Panatag shoal) which brought into the picture, much to the resentment of del Rosario, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

A farewell tribute to Del Rosario?

Published by Ellen on July 23, 2013

The fourth State-of- the- Nation Address by President Aquino is notable for the number of issues that he didn’t touch.
He did not mention anything about the Freedom of Information Bill which he promised to support when he was campaigning for the presidency.

He did not say anything about China and Taiwan.

The once vibrant relations with Taiwan took a dip with the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by a Philippine Coast Guard at the disputed waters in Balintang Channel last May 9. Taiwan has suspended the hiring of Filipino workers pending the President’s decision on the report of the investigation of the incident which had been with him since June 11.

‘Stupid proposal, stupid reply’

Published by Ellen on July 4, 2013

US Secretary of State Joh Kerry shook hands with his counterparts at this weeks's ARF in Brunei except Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, whom he embraced. — US Secretary of State Joh Kerry shook hands with his counterparts at this weeks’s ARF in Brunei except Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, whom he embraced.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario is known not to mince words when it comes to China and its behavior in the disputed areas in the West Philippines Sea.

He accused China of “duplicity” and “intimidation” at the 2012 Asean Ministerial Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This week, at the 2013 Asean Ministerial Meeting in Brunei, he blasted the neighboring behemoth again saying the “massive presence of Chinese military and paramilitary ships” is destabilizing the region.

Philippine diplomats accompanying him related proudly to reporters how the foreign secretary refuted the accusations of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that the Philippines is stirring tension in the South China Sea during last Sunday’s Asean plus three (China, Japan, South Korea) meeting.

Philippine media – a convenient scapegoat

Published by Ellen on September 13, 2012

Aquino and Lee Hsien Long at APEC — President Aquino and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long in APEC

Philippine media have their ample share of problems, one of them irresponsible reporting, but on the report on alleged support of Singapore for the Philippine position in the West Philippine Sea, they correctly reported what was officially conveyed to them.

The statement released by the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs last Sept. 10 insulted Philippine media.

The statement:

Del Rosario scores in redeeming DFA’s image

Published by Ellen on March 1, 2011

Acting Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario surprised everybody when he flew to Tripoli in Libya the day after he was sworn into office by President Aquino to oversee the evacuation of some 24,000 Filipinos in the African country which is now being rocked by violent protests between the forces loyal to strongman Muammar Gaddafi and rebels who want to end his 42-year dictatorship.

Not everybody applauded saying that the secretary’s job is at the home office to oversee the gargantuan evacuation operation. They said he was exposing himself unnecessarily to risks and added more pressure to the overburdened staff of Philippine embassy .

(Why is del Rosario’s title ‘acting secretary’? To allow him to assume the position of foreign secretary without confirmation by the Commission on Appointments.
Under the law, all cabinet appointments by the President have to pass CA approval. He can only make cabinet appointments without CA approval when Congress is not in session.

Congress is in session now but was not scheduled to meet the week del Rosario had to assume the job because of the emergency in Libya.Thus, the ‘acting” title. Del Rosario’s title will be upgraded once confirmed by the CA.)

Ex-envoy to US confirms military rule plan

Published by Ellen on August 13, 2009

By Albert Del Rosario
Philippine Daily Inquirer

At the bishops-businessmen’s conference a few weeks ago, the possibilities of a declaration of emergency rule or an imposition of martial law were among the topics discussed.

In that regard, I am prepared to sadly confirm that our incumbent national leadership would indeed be capable of placing our democracy at great risk in pursuit of its survival.

The past week, our nation found itself deeply mourning the immeasurable loss of our beloved former President Corazon Aquino, who was responsible not only for ousting a dictator but also for restoring our democratic institutions.