Metro Manila, Philippines – Raphael Lotilla will be the country’s next ambassador to the Vatican, his third appointment in the Marcos administration, and his deputy will succeed him as environment secretary.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. initially appointed Lotilla as energy secretary in 2022, and was reassigned to the environment department after the 2025 elections.
“According to what we have heard, ang sinabi ay mas nais ngayon ni Secretary Lotilla ng lighter appointment, ‘yon lang ang nabigay sa atin na information,” Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said in a briefing on Friday, Feb. 27.
[Translation: According to what we have heard, Secretary Lotilla said he wants a lighter appointment. That’s the only information we got.]
The Commission on Appointments has to confirm the designation and assignment of Lotilla.
Marcos appointed Environment Undersecretary Juan Miguel Cuna to head the department.
Cuna, a career official, was undersecretary for field operations in Luzon and Visayas, and the supervising undersecretary for the Mines and Geosciences Bureau and Environmental Management Bureau in the island groups.
He was a professor at the Arellano Law Foundation and a director IV, legal officer of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office under the Office of the President from 1998 to 2001.
Lotilla’s term as environment chief saw the alleged environmental violations of the Monterrazas de Cebu hillside project that was blamed for killer floods in Cebu last year.
He also shut down the Binaliw landfill in Cebu City in January after a fatal trash slide. He ordered a nationwide inspection of sanitary landfills.
