FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario has resigned effective March 7, and President Benigno S. Aquino III has accepted it.
Malacañang confirmed yesterday Del Rosario’s resignation but did not cite a reason.
Two senior diplomats, however, said the secretary has been suffering from a heart ailment.
Del Rosario took a month-long leave last year to undergo back surgery in the United States, but he returned to work immediately.
The country’s top diplomat was the one behind a bold government move to challenge the validity of china’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea before an international tribunal.
He has been an outspoken critic in the ASEAN of China’s increasingly assertive stance in disputed waters.
Del Rosario, will make his final trip abroad as foreign secretary when he attends the ASEAN – U.S. Summit on February 15 to 16 in California, where he will accompany President Aquino. (Eagle News)
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