Secretary Borje was appointed Commissioner and Vice Chair of the Philippines’ Climate Change Commission on 08 March 2022 for a term of six (6) years.
A career diplomat in the Philippine Foreign Service, Mr. Borje brings to the Climate Change Commission nearly two (2) decades of experience in multilateral and bilateral diplomacy and negotiations in climate change and sustainable development and the nexus with disaster preparedness and resiliency, migration, and international security.
He was Presidential Assistant on Foreign Affairs and advised the Office of the President on key multilateral and bilateral issues. Mr. Borje was the Office of the President’s focal point in the development, articulation, coordination and implementation of the Philippines’ independent foreign policy for nearly six (6) years, with focus on Philippine strategic interests in climate change and sustainable development agenda, disaster risk reduction and resilience, migrant workers’ right, and regional and international security.
Mr. Borje has served as President Duterte’s Special Envoy to Japan, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, to advance bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest, including climate change and disaster resilience.
Prior to his detail to the Office of the President, Mr. Borje was Director for the Oceans Governance Division of the Maritime and Ocean Affairs Office and then Director for South and Central Asia at the Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Borje’s foreign assignments include the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. and the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations in New York.
He served as Special Assistant to Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alberto G. Romulo handling the portfolio on multilateral and regional diplomacy. Before passing the Foreign Service Officer Examinations in 2002, Mr. Borje served at the Office of the President’s Mindanao Economic Development Council as Senior Economic Development Specialist then Supervising Economic Development Specialist working on Mindanao Investment Programming. He was a broadcast journalist before joining government service.
Mr. Borje has a degree in Communications from the University of the Immaculate Conception. He attended the Netherlands Institute of Foreign Relations Clingendael at The Hague and was Fellow at the Rhodes Academy for Oceans Law and Policy in Greece, the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in Italy and the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in the United States.
Mr. Borje has received three (3) presidential decorations for meritorious service in the field of foreign affairs and diplomacy. In 2007, Mr. Borje was conferred the Orden ng Lakandula (Ranggong Pinuno) and the Gawad Mabini (Ranggong Dakilang Kasugo) by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In 2021, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte conferred upon Mr. Borje the Gawad Mabini with the Rank of Grand Cross (Dakilang Kamanong). Mr. Borje hails from Mindanao and is the son of retired Rear Admiral Adolf P. Borje of San Fernando, La Union and Barangay Captain Eleanor Alabado Borje of Koronadal, South Cotabato.