BY DANIE MAE FAJARDO-DELA CRUZ
MANILA – One of the best examples of servant-leadership was the late Foreign Affairs secretary Albert del Rosario, according to Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) secretary Susan Ople.
In times of the Philippine migrant workers’ greatest need, he was always there, Ople added.
Del Rosario, 83, died on Tuesday. He headed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) from 2011 to 2016 under the administration of then President Benigno Aquino III.
“He could have monitored the mass evacuation of our OFWs from Libya to Tunisia from the comfort and safety of his stately office at the DFA, but he didn’t,” said Ople.
Ople was referring to that time in February 2011 when there was civil war in Libya.
Del Rosario “chose to be at the Tunisian border, at tremendous risk to his own life, thus making every distressed worker at that time, feel safe and cared for,” said Ople.
Aside from Libya, the former DFA secretary also visited Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Egypt with his visits resulting in the DFA’s repatriation of over 24,000 Filipinos.
Under his watch, the DFA extended assistance to over 80,000 OFWs from 2011 to 2015.
Del Rosario was also the Philippine ambassador to the United States under then President Gloria Macapagla-Arroyo from 2001 to 2006.
Ople recalled that as a civil society leader, the late Foreign Affairs secretary would always lend an ear to the concerns raised by non-profit organizations and OFW groups./PN