Valeriano R DEL ROSARIO

Introduction

Valeriano del Rosario, better known as Val, is the managing partner of the law partnership Del Rosario Raboca Gonzales Grasparil, known in the trade as VeraLaw. VeraLaw was founded soon after the Second World War in 1949 by Val’s father, whose firm, VE del Rosario & Associates, was known by the acronym VERA. Del Rosario graduated from Ateneo de Manila Law School in 1981 and earned his Master of Laws degree in Shipping Law from the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology in 1983. Del Rosario joined the London office of then shipping law powerhouse Sinclair Roche and Temperley for three years, working on Lloyd’s LOF salvage arbitration, taking a ship sale and purchase dispute from the High Court to the Court of Appeal in three weeks, and handling ship finance deals.

Del Rosario joined his father at VeraLaw in 1987. It was this year that the Doña Paz sank with 4,000 passengers, with only a handful of survivors, after its collision with an oil tanker. It was the worst peacetime maritime disaster in history. Del Rosario pursued the claim of the victims against a US oil major in the courts of Texas, Louisiana, Manila and Catbalogan, Samar, in the Philippines. Remarkably, in 2017, Del Rosario and the VeraLaw team undertook the arduous task of implementing a settlement that paid more than 3,200 decedents’ families from a Louisiana class action settlement.

Del Rosario and the VeraLaw shipping team remain relevant by being involved in major shipping matters such as the two major Philippine oil spills in 2023 and 2024. Recently, they have been instructed by the insurers of two vessels that have been attacked by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. The team secured recognition for the firm as the Philippine Transportation Law Firm of the Year in 2023 and a finalist in 2024.

Del Rosario is proud to give back to his chosen industry as a trustee of the MOL Magsaysay Maritime Academy since its start in 2018.