Del Rosario quits DFA, PNoy accepts resignation

President Benigno Aquino III has accepted the resignation of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, a Palace official said Monday.

In a text message to reporters, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said Del Rosario’s resignation will take effect in March.

“According to Executive Secretary [Paquito] Ochoa, President Aquino has accepted the resignation of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario effective 7 March 2016.”

Three reliable sources earlier told GMA News Online that Del Rosario has notified senior diplomats at the DFA that he plans to leave his post as early as March and hand over the leadership to one of his deputies, Laura del Rosario, who is currently the Undersecretary for International and Economic Relations.

"He told the President he’s in pain. He has already made up his mind and said that he will no longer re-consider his decision," one of the sources said of Del Rosario's decision.

Del Rosario, 76, has been suffering from a spinal problem in the last two years, a debilitating condition, which has worsened in recent months. Del Rosario went on medical leave in May 2015 for a back surgery in the United States which turned unsuccessful.

Last November, his health problems were further complicated by a previously-undetected heart condition that required his doctors to hurriedly install a pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat in a hospital in metropolitan Manila. -NB, GMA News