Defense undersecretary quits, cites health reasons

Citing health reasons, Defense Undersecretary Francisco del Rosario has resigned from his post effective Jan. 1.

In his 50s, Del Rosario has complained of chronic neck pain even before his designation as undersecretary for finance of the Department of National Defense in February last year, the DND said.

The possibility of Del Rosario leaving the DND had been privately discussed among defense employees since late last year. Some employees claimed there had been differences between Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz and the team brought in to assist him, and predicted an eventual breakup. Cruz replaced Eduardo Ermita as DND chief in August 2004.

A commerce and economics graduate of De La Salle University, Del Rosario was chief operating officer of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) before assuming the DND post to assist Cruz in his flagship Philippine Defense Reform (PDR) program.

Director Rosulo Manlangit of the DND’s Office of Public Affairs maintained that Del Rosario’s resignation was for health reasons and nothing else.

"Medical tests conducted in 2005 on him revealed that he is suffering from an incurable degenerative disease known as spondylosis," Manlangit said in a press statement.

Spondylosis affects the muscles and nerves and Del Rosario’s condition further deteriorated because of the tension and the stress brought about by his job at the DND, he said.

"Despite his resignation and his medical condition, he (Del Rosario) committed to remain as a defense consultant on projects that would promote the morale and welfare of the soldiers," Manlangit stressed.

Del Rosario previously was president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), chief financial officer of San Miguel Properties Inc. and treasurer of Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc.

Cecilio Lorenzo, an Ateneo management engineering graduate, takes over Del Rosario’s job. Like his predecessor, Lorenzo also has a master’s degree in business management from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM).

Prior to his joining government service, Lorenzo also had extensive experience in corporate finance and information and communications technology.

Recently, he served as president and chief operation officer of Infocom Technologies Inc., the Internet Company of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.

He also previously served as comptroller of Exptress Telecommunications Co. Inc., one of the pioneering cellular telecommunications company in the country.