Philippines Economic Update: Securing a Clean Energy Future

Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla has served in government for more than 20 years in various capacities---professor of law in the University of the Philippines (UP), Undersecretary at the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) under three Presidents, President and CEO of PSALM, besides sharing his expertise as legal consultant to several Senate Presidents and Senators. He is currently in his second stint as Secretary of Energy. He also served as Regional Programme Director of a regional seas project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

In the private sector, he was an independent director in several publicly listed conglomerates with diverse interests, including energy and financial services.

Ndiamé Diop is the World Bank Country Director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. He oversees the World Bank program in the four countries and leads the policy dialogue with government counterparts, civil society, academia and other partners. 

The Bank program in Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand is a mixture of cutting-edge analytics and advisory services and lending operations focused on financially and technically supporting the countries’ development agenda. The World Bank team produces both inbound knowledge to support the four countries’ key reforms and outbound knowledge to share these countries’ innovative development achievements with other developing countries. 

Mr. Diop brings to this position 20 years of World Bank experience, working across East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to his current role, he was for four years Practice Manager for Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment for East Asia, providing technical and strategic guidance to the economic team working in South East Asia and the Pacific Region. Preceding that, Mr. Diop was Lead Economist for Indonesia, leading the economic policy dialogue and the Bank’s advisory and development policy lending support to Indonesia. Earlier in his career, he worked as Lead Economist for Jordan and Lebanon and World Bank Resident Representative for Tunisia. 

Ralph van Doorn is the Senior Economist for the World Bank in the Philippines focusing on macroeconomic policy, fiscal policy and debt management. Previously he was the country economist for Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Mongolia and supported governments on fiscal, growth and debt issues in countries across Africa, East Asia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Prior to joining the World Bank he worked at the emerging markets fixed income team at Credit Suisse  in London focusing on Egypt, Kazakhstan and the GCC countries. He holds a Master of Research degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and a Master of Science degree in Applied Physics from Delft University of Technology.

Feng Liu is World Bank Program Leader for infrastructure in the Philippines and a senior energy specialist. He leads World Bank’s energy sector engagements in the Philippines and coordinates activities in the transport sector and digital development.  Over the past 20 years he has worked on energy projects in more than a dozen countries in Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Franz-Michael Skjold Mellbin is a Danish professional Foreign Service officer with broad knowledge and experience of Asia as well as working with counter-insurgency, terrorism and fragile and failed states. In addition, he has worked extensively on renewable and clean energy including the geostrategic aspects of energy. Ambassador Mellbin was appointed Ambassador to the Philippines and Palau in 2022. He has previously served as Danish Ambassador to Afghanistan, Japan, UAE and Qatar, as well as being Permanent Representative in the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). From 2013 to 2017 he was the European Union Special Representative (EUSR) for Afghanistan and Pakistan and in 2016 he facilitated the first significant Afghan peace accord in over 20 years with the Hezb-e-Islami group. Franz-Michael Skjold Mellbin has received the highest civilian orders of Japan and Afghanistan for his exceptional efforts in those two countries. 

Dr. Rowena Cristina L. Guevara is an Undersecretary of the Department of Energy (DOE), supervising the Renewable Energy Management Bureau (REMB) and Electric Power Industry Management Bureau (EPIMB). She is seconded from the University of the Philippines Diliman where she is Professor XII at the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute.

Prior to her appointment as DOE Undersecretary, Dr. Guevara served as President and CEO of the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo). She was also the Undersecretary for Research and Development at the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) from July 2016 to June 2022 where she served as the 1st Program Leader of the Science for Change Program (S4CP), a 2022 United Nations Public Service Awards winner. Dr. Guevara was the youngest and first female Dean of the UP College of Engineering and Executive Director of the UP National Engineering Center from 2004 to 2010.

She received her BSEE and MSEE degrees from the University of the Philippines Diliman and her PhD in Electrical Engineering: Systems from the University of Michigan. She has been a recipient of several awards in engineering, education and government service, including the 2010 Metrobank Outstanding Teachers of the Philippines and the 2018 Gawad Career Executive Service Presidential Award.

Mr. Oliver Tan is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Citicore Energy REIT Corporation (CREIT), the country's first energy-themed real estate investment trust (REIT). He is also the President and CEO of its sponsor, Citicore Renewable Energy Corporation and parent company, Citicore Power, Inc. He steered the group to becoming one of the leading solar energy generators in the Philippines today with an aggregate attributable generation capacity of 226.5MWdc. The group has over 5GW of project pipeline in varying stages of development, and aims to lead the renewable energy revolution by empowering Filipino communities through Positive Energy. Mr. Tan is a result-driven visionary with proven success in delivering shareholder value and revenue growth. Prior to his focus in the energy industry, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of Citicore Power’s sister company Megawide Construction Corporation, a leading engineering, procurement, and construction conglomerate in the country, where he has been instrumental in growing its revenues and assets.

Professor Rowaldo del Mundo, known in the academe and energy sector as Prof. Wali, is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and currently serving as an Associate Dean of the College of Engineering of the University of the Philippines. 

Professor del Mundo’s fields of expertise include energy system modeling and simulations, planning, operation and control, rural electrification, renewable energy, and GHG emissions modeling. 

Professor del Mundo lead the team of experts in providing analytical support to the Climate Change Commission (CCC) to quantify the baseline and reduction in emissions of the Philippines first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the UNFCCC. Prof. Wali is currently working as Team Leader of the National Consulting Team to the Department of Energy in developing the PH2050 Calculator (a GHG emissions pathways calculator for the Philippines) with support from the UK Government. He is also providing technical and sectoral advisory to the World Bank in developing options for Philippines energy transition.  

Atty. Jose M. Layug, Jr. or “Jay” is currently a Senior Partner at Divina Law Offices. He is the President of the Developers of Renewable Energy for AdvanceMent, Inc. (DREAM), the umbrella organization of all renewable energy associations in the Philippines. He is also a director of the Philippine Energy Research & Policy Institute, an independent energy think-tank created by law. He recently served as Chairman of the National Renewable Energy Board from 2016-2018. Jay was the Undersecretary of the Philippine Department of Energy (DOE) from 2010-2012 and headed the Renewable Energy Management Bureau, Energy Resources Development Bureau, Energy Utilization Management Bureau, Oil Industry Management Bureau and Legal Services. He was primarily responsible for the revival of various sectors in the Philippine energy sector with the successful launching of the National Renewable Energy Program, the Philippine Energy Contracting Rounds for Petroleum and Coal and the Public Transport Assistance Program of Pantawid Pasada. Jay currently serves as the Dean of the University of Makati School of Law and a professor of law.

Jie Tang, Practice Manager for the Energy and Extractive Global Practice of the World Bank, is in charge of the Bank’s energy programs covering 26 countries in East Asia and Pacific Region. He joined the World Bank in 2001 as a Young Professional and has recently held the positions of Lead Energy Specialist, Program Leader for energy/transport/ICT, and Practice Manager. Before joining the World Bank, he worked for 15 years on China Three Gorges Dam Project, at various technical and managerial positions including senior power engineer, Division Director for mechanical and electrical engineering and the assistant to the Vice Chairman of the State Council Three Gorges Project Committee. He holds a BSc in Electric Engineering from the Hydropower College of Wuhan University, China in 1985, and a MBA from University of Cambridge, England in 2001.