Del Rosario staying put

MANILA, Philippines—Amid rumors that he was about ready to quit the Cabinet, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario made his presence felt in Malacañang on Wednesday when President Aquino received the credentials of eight new nonresident ambassadors-designate to the country.

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) secretary Albert del Rosario AP FILE PHOTO

As if to erase any doubt that he is staying put, Del Rosario himself denied that he was contemplating resignation.

“In my talks with my trusted friend, Manny Pangilinan, in December (2013), he is fully supportive of my decision to continue in public service for as long as the President wishes for me to do so,” he said in a text message that presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda circulated among reporters.

An online story (Yahoo! Philippines News) earlier quoted Pangilinan, the chair of the Metro Pacific Investment Corp., as having said at the company’s Christmas Party in Hong Kong that Del Rosario “will soon be rejoining us in the private sector.”

The foreign secretary served as director of several Pangilinan-led companies including the Philippine Long Distance Co., Philex Mines and First Pacific—before joining government.

Del Rosario on Wednesday brought the eight new nonresident ambassadors to the Palace, where they presented their credentials to Aquino—Titi Amina Pardi of Suriname, Dibaba Abdetta of Ethiopia, Jacob Dickie Nkate of Botswana, Joaquim Alberto de Sousa Moreira de Lemos of Portugal, Khalid Abdelgadir Shukri of Sudan, Miles Kaweche Banda of Zambia, Leiataua Tuitolova’a Dr. Kilifoti Eteauati of Samoa and Egidijus Meilunas of Lithuania.

In brief remarks, the President asked the foreign envoys to work hand in hand with the Philippines in “advancing a rules-based global order, by addressing the threats of climate change as one global community, and by promoting greater understanding and stability in our respective regions.”

He also took the opportunity to highlight the changes that his leadership has brought about, the “fundamental change in the attitude of the Filipino people, a transformation that has enabled the nation to face successive challenges and rise up with a strengthened sense of solidarity among Filipinos, and between Filipinos and the wider community of nations.”