Secretary Raphael Lotilla formally assumed leadership of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) during a turnover ceremony with resigned Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga on Monday, 16 June 2025, at the DENR Central Office in Visayas Avenue, Quezon City.
“Lotilla brings with him a wealth of experience as a public servant, legal scholar, and energy policy expert,” the DENR said in a news release. He led the Department of Energy (DOE) under Presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
President Marcos accepted the courtesy resignation of Loyzaga and appointed Lotilla as her successor as part of his ongoing Cabinet performance review.
Lotilla’s public service track record also included key leadership roles at the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM).
He is also an academician, having worked as professor at the UP College of Law since 1985 and served as Vice President for Public Affairs of the University of the Philippines from 1991 to 1996.
He is also widely recognized for his contributions to global discussions on clean energy, environmental governance, and sustainable marine and coastal development.
“I want to assure you that I would be open and I will work hard with you in order to achieve the goals of this Department and of the goals that are clearly enunciated in our Constitution and in the laws that we have governing the environment and natural resources,” Lotilla told DENR employees during the turnover ceremony.
The DENR said it expects Lotilla’s professional background in the fields of law, public policy and sustainable development to strengthen its ongoing efforts in environmental protection, climate resilience, and resource conservation.
The department, meanwhile, thanked Loyzaga for her leadership since 2022. She was credited for steering science-based policy reforms and advancing climate resilience programs that benefited vulnerable communities across the country.
“I am both humbled and honored to be respectfully turning over not only a green, but a blue DENR—one that has worked hard to break down silos and work together to provide clean air and water, minerals for energy, industry and infrastructure, and lands for development whilst conserving, protecting, enhancing our forests and waters, and their biodiversity as the web of life that sustains us all,” Loyzaga said in her speech.
