Lotilla exits Marcos Cabinet, Cuna is acting DENR chief

MANILA, Philippines – Raphael “Popo” Lotilla, who served as alter ego to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. twice over, is out of the Cabinet, Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro announced in a press conference on Friday, February 27.

Lotilla, a lawyer who was first appointed energy chief before being moved to head the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), will next serve as the Philippines’ ambassador to the Holy See.

“Hindi po siya nag-resign at hindi po siya pinag-resign (He did not resign nor was he made to resign),” said Castro of Lotilla.

Replacing Lotilla as DENR chief is Undersecretary Juan Miguel Cuna.

Cuna has worked in the DENR since 2008, slowly climbing up the ranks until he was appointed undersecretary for field operations in Luzon and Visayas, as well as the supervising undersecretary for the Mines and Geosciences Bureau-Luzon and Visayas, Environmental Management Bureau (EMB)-Luzon and Visayas.

In 2018, Cuna was ordered suspended for three months by the Ombudsman over the controversial shipment of container vans of trash from Canada in 2013. At that time, he already held the undersecretary rank and headed the EMB.

Prior to his work in the DENR, Cuna taught law at Arellano, and worked at the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office from 1998 to 2001 during the Joseph Estrada administration.

Lotilla was appointed to his first Cabinet post under Marcos in July 2022, or days after Marcos took office. He was moved to DENR less than a year ago in May 2025, during the promised “revamp” of the Marcos Cabinet. Lotilla previously served as energy chief from 2005 to 2007 under former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. – Rappler.com