DHSUD SECRETARY EDUARDO DEL ROSARIO
Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario is confident that the newest department in the bureaucracy will be able to help realize every Filipino’s dream—and right—to decent yet affordable housing
By Joyce Reyes-Aguila
PHOTOGRAPHY BY RENJIE TOLENTINO
I t was a simple Philippine Military Academy (PMA) shirt that ultimately started to inspire Eduardo “Ed” Drueco Del Rosario to try his luck at entering the country’s most prestigious school for Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) aspirants. Del Rosario’s brother-in-law had traveled with his sister to Baguio City and gifted him with it when he was in fifth or sixth grade. That gesture lit a fire in Del Rosario.
“Because of that, joining the military organization became a dream,” the now-retired major general tells LEAGUE. “I was enticed to think that if ever I’d join a military organization and experience the hardships of training, I would rather go straight to the Philippine Military Academy.”
FRIEND OF THE LUMADS
After graduation, Del Rosario served in the military for 37 years. His career began as a member of the Special Forces Regiment in his hometown of Nueva Ecija where he served from 1981 to 1989. In 1990, he was appointed battery commander of the 8th Field Artillery Battery of the 8th Infantry Division in Catbalogan City, Samar.
He held other positions prior to his appointment as Battalion Commander of the 73rd Infantry Battalion of the 10th Infantry PUBLIC SERVICE IN UNIFORM AND OUT OF IT Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario is confident that the newest department in the bureaucracy will be able to help realize every Filipino’s dream—and right—to decent yet affordable housing. Division in Davao City in the early 2000s. In 2004, Del Rosario became commander of Task Force Davao and led the revival of the counter-insurgency program Alsa Lumad that mobilized the members of the indigenous community against the New People’s Army (NPA).
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Del Rosario describes this period in Davao City’s history as the “hottest in as far as the presence of the NPA rebels is concerned.” He shares, “During my first two, three months, I felt that we would never be successful in our campaign against [them] if the mass base or Lumads who live in the countryside—about 24 percent of the [city’s] population—would not support the campaign of the armed forces.
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