When he joined our video call, I was surprised by the warmth of his countenance. I was expecting a more formal personality – one that would make it difficult to feel at ease. But Ambassador Raphael Lotilla, the newest Philippine representative to the Holy See, quickly dispelled this expectation. From the first moments of our conversation, he was unassuming and gracious. His palpable modesty was both unexpected and refreshing.
As our exchange unfolded, my first impression only deepened. Whether he was telling stories about his great-grandfather, explaining the dilemmas around climate justice, or speaking about the Holy Father’s fondness for Filipinos, Lotilla kept returning to the same idea: Public service is about people.
Throughout nearly three decades in public service, Lotilla has returned to a consistent conviction: Good governance begins by placing people at the center of policy.
On why he decided to enter government
I began our conversation by asking Ambassador Lotilla what had inspired him to dedicate his life to government. Rather than speaking first about his own career, he told me the story of his great-grandfather who received the Medalla del Mérito Civil from the Spanish government for his contributions to the welfare of his community:
I'm proud that my great-grandfather, during the Spanish period, received a Medalla del Mérito Civil (Civil Merit Medal), an award given by the Spanish colonial government to those who have contributed to the welfare of the community. I still recall the document saying that the award was being given for su celo en recaudación. The other one was la recaudación y el desarrollo de su pueblo. So, it was referring to his zeal in tax collection, but more importantly, in the development of his community.
The ambassador then explained that his great-grandfather increased tax collection by encouraging local families to plant fruit trees, giving them an additional source of income and, consequently, a greater capacity to pay their taxes. For the ambassador, it was an early example of what we now call sustainable development: helping people improve their livelihoods in ways that benefit the wider community.
Public service, he shared, has been a calling passed down through four generations of his family. Hailing from Sibalom, Antique, he traces this legacy through his grandfather, who served in the revolutionary government before becoming the town’s first elected municipal president, and his father, who later served as a provincial board member, vice governor, and eventually a judge. Equally formative, he said, was his education at the University of the Philippines, where public funding enabled him to earn both his undergraduate and law degrees. Serving in government, he says, is not only a way of giving back, but of paying that investment forward for future generations.
Public service as stewardship
We then spoke about how he felt when he learned he would become the Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See. He shared that he welcomed the appointment as another significant responsibility in his 23-year career as a public servant, eager to represent the country in a role he immediately saw as significant. For him, the Church is a pillar institution in the Philippines, playing an important role in safeguarding the nation’s values and culture.
True to the modesty I noticed at the beginning of our conversation, he also laughed by claiming that perhaps he got this post because his soul needed some cleansing: “So while I was only kidding when I said that, probably I was sent here because I need some spiritual scrubbing.”
He also recalled attending a Catholic school run by the Redemptorist Fathers in Iloilo City, where students were encouraged to study the documents of Vatican II, especially those on the Church’s social teachings. Recently, a classmate reminded him that he had received the religion medal each year in high school. Those formative experiences, he reflected, left a deep mark on his sense of social responsibility.
Putting people at the heart of climate justice
I mentioned to him that I thought it was providential that we were having this conversation at a time in our country when it is politically turbulent. His response surprised me. Hope, he said, is one of faith’s best gifts. Unlike a purely scientific view that sees the universe tending toward entropy or chaos, faith insists that history is ultimately ordered toward God's purposes.
That perspective has sustained him throughout public service. As citizens of a young nation, he explained, Filipinos should not expect lasting change overnight. Development requires deep stores of patience and hope.
Over decades in government, including leadership roles in economic planning, energy, and the environment, Ambassador Lotilla has wrestled with some of the country's most difficult policy questions. Years of navigating competing demands taught him one lesson: environmental protection and economic growth cannot be pursued independently. Development succeeds only when people remain at its center:
So it's not enough to protect the environment or to pursue economic growth alone.
All of these have to be balanced such that our people, the social component, will be at the heart of the development.
With this focus, sustainable development means minimizing harmful environmental impacts that occur whenever we use natural resources, while maximizing benefits to the communities involved. This person-centric framework aligns well with recent teachings from the last two popes.
A gradual progress
The case he likes to cite when explaining why a nuanced approach to environmental sustainability is important is the situation on Semirara Island in his home province of Antique.
Semirara is home to the country’s largest coal mine, which employs 5,000 people and supports several families. It provides 15% of the country’s coal needs, yielding significant foreign exchange savings and reduced imports. Given the jobs provided by this coal facility, to close it down right away would be the opposite of justice:
… there are some people who are saying, no, we should shut down all the coal mines, and we'll do it overnight.
But that is not climate justice. Because the people who are there out in the mines need to be transitioned. They would need to acquire new skills that would allow them to take on new jobs.
The transition plan he proposes for Semirara would shift the island from coal to wind production over 10 years, since the island sits in the Philippines' wind triangle. This generous timeframe would allow for the retraining of mining employees and the gradual buildup of the island's wind resources.
Climate transition often comes with hard dilemmas
Ambassador Lotilla cautions against simplistic solutions. Renewable energy, he noted, also carries environmental and social costs. Solar farms compete for agricultural land. Offshore windfarms can affect fishing communities. For him, these realities do not argue against transition but underline the need for careful discernment and dialogue.
Why the Church matters
This need for nuanced discernment and informed dialogue is one that Ambassador Lotilla believes the Church is uniquely equipped to address. For him, the clergy’s role goes beyond preaching from the pulpit. As fathers and shepherds, they bring together experts, leaders, and communities with competing interests, helping them deepen their understanding and discover common ground.
As he told Aleteia, “The Church can play a catalytic role, not simply to take one side or the other, but to promote a genuine dialogue.” He pointed to the value of bringing together respected scientists, communities affected by environmental and economic challenges, corporate investors, and local governments. He was happy when he received news that the Pope is dialoguing with mining companies in Latin America, urging them to ensure that the benefits of development are shared with their host communities.
As Ambassador, he hopes to strengthen this shared commitment to sustainable development. One of his priorities is ensuring that the economic burden of the global climate transition does not fall disproportionately on Filipinos, whose contribution to global carbon emissions is, as he put it, “miniscule” compared with that of more developed nations. Climate justice, he argues, means giving developing countries more time to transition, greater access to technology and financing, and encouraging investments that create higher-value industries and jobs in the Philippines, rather than simply extracting its natural resources.
We have a Pope who loves Filipinos
Ambassador Lotilla shared that when they met early this month, Pope Leo expressed deep appreciation for the positive contribution Filipino migrants make worldwide. Alongside the promotion of peace and the ethical challenges surrounding technological and climate transitions, the protection of migrants’ rights will be among the areas of common concern that President Marcos has instructed him to pursue in close collaboration with the Holy See.
When I asked the Ambassador what his impressions of the Holy Father were during their meeting. His face lit up as he replied:
Well, it was obvious to me that the Pope is fond of the Philippines. Yes, Pope Leo in particular. When we mentioned to him that he has visited the Philippines nine times, you could see the sparkle in his eye. (He asked me,) “You mean nine times?” So his closeness to the country is quite obvious.
