'I Want to Be Known as a Patriot': The Legacy of Albert Del Rosario

Albert Del Rosario, industrialist and public servant, has died. He was 83. His passing was confirmed by the Management Association of the Philippines, of which he was a member for 45 years. 

Del Rosario is perhaps best-known for his stint as Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs during the term of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino. Before that he was ambassador to the United States. It was during his term that the Philippines submitted a case before the Arbitral Tribunal in the Hague against China’s claim of virtually all of the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea). Del Rosario himself appeared before the tribunal to argue the case. The tribunal eventually delivered a verdict favoring the Philippines.

Del Rosario spent his formative years in the United States. He went to Xavier High School in New York before going on to pursue an economics degree at New York University. In interviews he said he worked three jobs a day, seven days a week to put himself through night school. These included stints at a library, a printing press, and a few other odd jobs.

After graduation, Del Rosario stayed in New York and completed a training program under Equitable Life, where he met the founder of the AIG group. Along with Don Emilio Abello of Philamlife, the company invited the young Del Rosario to come home to Manila to head the new marketing division of the company. He was 24 years old.

Del Rosario stayed with Philam for one year before he and a partner put up their own insurance brokerage firm, Gotuaco, Del Rosario Insurance Brokers Inc. and later, Asia Insurance Philippines Corp. He credits his meeting with Manny Pangilinan for granting him several opportunities. It was Pangilinan who introduced Del Rosario to Anthony Salim of Indonesia, which paved the way for him to expand his business career.

Besides insurance, he was involved in banking (1st E-Bank), real estate, (FPDSavills Philippines, Bonifacio Land Corporation, Fort Bonifacio Development Corp, Landco Pacific Corporation), shipping (Negros Navigation Co), telecommunications (Philippine Telecommunications Investment Corporation, PLDT, Smart), infrastructure (Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation, Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corporation, Manila North Tollways Corporation), media (MediaQuest Holdings, BusinessWorld, ABC5), consumer products, and others. 

Del Rosario was first invited to join government when his friend, former Finance Secretary Jaime Ongpin asked him to become insurance commissioner during the time of then-President Corazon Aquino. The seasoned executive developed a friendship with the late President and was one of the businessmen invited to witness her historic speech in front of the US Congress in 1986.

When Gloria Macapagal Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001, she handpicked Del Rosario to become the country’s ambassador to the United States. Before that, Arroyo had asked him to travel to Washington to explain the position of the opposition during the impeachment trial of Arroyo’s predecessor, former President Joseph Estrada.

Del Rosario minced no words when he said he was fired from the position because of “differences in agenda.” He quietly went back to the private sector, but only briefly as he was once again called to government when President Noynoy Aquino asked him to be the country’s Foreign Affairs Secretary. He stepped down from the position in March 2016, a few months before the end of President Aquino’s term. 

In recent years he became a staunch critic of former President Rodrigo Duterte, often voicing out his displeasure at some of the latter’s pronouncements on foreign policy.

Del Rosario was married over 50 years to the former Gretchen De Venecia. They had five children and several grandchildren.

When asked in an interview about his personal goal, Del Rosario said, “I think at the end of the day, I would like to be known as a patriot.”