Dr. Teodoro J. Herbosa resigned from his post as the executive vice president of the University of the Philippines (UP) System due to “personal reasons,” the university announced Sunday, April 25.

In a statement, the university said UP President Danilo L. Concepcion has accepted Herbosa’s resignation, noting that Herbosa had served the university with “great dedication.”

“In your service as Executive Vice President, you have shown how vital this position can be to the governance of the University,” Concepcion wrote in his letter accepting Herbosa’s resignation.

But Concepcion noted that “it is imperative that there be consistency and harmony in our relationship as administrators, as well as in our public pronouncements, given that we both represent the larger University community, its spirit, and its interests.”

Herbosa served as executive vice president of UP since the start of Concepcion’s administration in 2017.

Currently, he sits as a special adviser to the government’s National Task Force Against COVID-19.

Herbosa’s resignation came after reaping the ire of netizens over his “death by community pantry” tweet.

On April 23, Herbosa reacted to reports of a senior citizen who succumbed to a heart attack while in line at a community pantry organized by actress Angel Locsin in Quezon City.

In a Twitter post, Herbosa described the death of the senior citizen as “death by community pantry,” adding “I told you so!”

Following this, Herbosa has since issued an apology, saying that “it may have sounded like a criticism but was ill-judged.

“I support community pantries as acts of kindness. What I had intended to say was I object to violations of public health standards, which increase transmission of COVID-19,” he wrote in a tweet.

While he admitted that he could have expressed his sentiments better, Herbosa said he “felt angry over a preventable death.”

“I apologize to sincere organizers of community pantries who were hurt. I continue to reflect on the impact of my behavior,” he added.