REMARKS FOR AMB RAPHAEL PERPETUO M. LOTILLA’S DESPEDIDA DINNER
When President Toti and I first reached out to Popo to ask when we might hold a proper despedida before he leaves for the Vatican, he characteristically demurred. He did not wish to be fussed over. He finally relented only when Toti offered to bundle it with our usual FEF dinner—thus no incremental fuel cost and no additional carbon damage, especially in these difficult times.
When I sent him the program, he replied with a simple request: could we keep the tribute toast and his response to no more than five minutes?
Knowing how impossible it is to compress into two and a half minutes the long list of what Popo has done for the nation—as a public servant and as a leader of FEF initiatives—I am sending these remarks in advance.
This is, incidentally, the second time Popo has spurned our attempts to recognize him.
The first was in 2012, when several of us on the Board—Chair Bobby, President Toti, Vice Simon, Bong Montes, and dear Gloria Tan Climaco—nominated him for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In a letter that became public, he modestly declined in favor of then–Senior Associate Justice Carpio, citing the importance of preserving long-standing succession tradition.
At the time, I wrote a column on why Popo belonged on the Court. I noted that he had become the gold standard for integrity. There was a story—perhaps apocryphal—that he stayed in UP student dormitory housing long after he had begun working, leaving only when he feared being evicted for overstaying. He moved to a small faculty walk-up apartment, which later led critics to joke, when he was Energy Secretary, that he could not fully appreciate high power costs because his electricity use qualified him for a subsidized lifeline rate. The joke, of course, said more about his simplicity than about his understanding of policy. ( http://romeobernardo.blogspot.com/2012/06/appointment-to-supreme-court.html)
In hindsight, it may be a good thing that he declined the Court. It allowed him to lead FEF advocacies that produced real, consequential reforms—and later to serve as Energy Secretary and, most recently, as DENR Secretary.
Working with President Toti and other partners, Popo helped unlock a path to liberalizing public utilities without Charter change, through legislation redefining public utilities under the Revised Public Services Act. This opened telecommunications, airports, and other key infrastructure to foreign investment and real competition. As Energy Secretary, he had the DOJ revisit the flawed view that renewable energy fell under constitutional foreign-ownership restrictions, clearing the way for massive inflows into solar and wind—exactly when the country needed them most.
These are only highlights of decades of service: as a law professor and legal scholar; as NEDA Undersecretary during the Ramos and Estrada administrations, helping push through the ODA Law, oil deregulation, and early water PPPs; as PSALM head and twice Energy Secretary, guiding the operationalization of EPIRA; and as an international public servant, including as a UN regional director. Over the years, government has repeatedly turned to him on UNCLOS and maritime issues.
Some have asked whether Popo is a devout Catholic—apparently an important qualification for his new post in the minds of some.
What I can say is this: I know him to be a good man—defined by kindness, humility, integrity, simplicity, and self-sacrifice. As close to a saint as one can reasonably expect in public life. He will feel very much at home in the Vatican.
Dear FEF Fellows and friends, please raise your glasses to honor the man of the hour, indeed a man for all seasons—our fellow Fellow and dear friend, the honorable (with a small “h”) Popo Lotilla. Mabuhay. Bene vobis.
