PHL Diplomats Shocked, Saddened by Colleague’s Death in Pakistan Chopper Crash
The death of Ambassador Domingo Lucenario Jr. from a helicopter crash in Pakistan on Friday came as a shock to his colleagues.
With a Foreign Service career spanning more than 35 years, the 54-year-old Lucenario was the first ambassador to die in the line of duty in recent memory.
“I was shocked when I heard and later on confirmed that he was among the casualties of the helicopter that crashed in Pakistan,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis told GMA News Online.
Seguis had worked with Lucenario at the Home Office in Manila during the time of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo.
Lucenario, or simply “Doy” to his peers, “was a gentleman, a dedicated, loyal and hardworking diplomat,” Seguis said.
e-Passport
He praised Lucenario’s key role in modernizing the Philippine passport.
“He was the first Office of Consular Affairs Assistant Secretary who introduced the electronic passport that we have today under the leadership of then Secretary Romulo,” he said.
During his term in Pakistan, relations between the Philippines and Pakistan have enjoyed a robust partnership in various areas of cooperation, a DFA statement said.
Aside from being the Philippine Ambassador to Pakistan, Lucenario was also the Philippines’ non-resident Ambassador to Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
“A dedicated and hardworking colleague”
“The Department of Foreign Affairs offers its deepest sympathies and condolences to the family of Ambassador Lucenario at this time of mourning,” a department statement said Friday night.
Philippine Ambassador to Canada Petronila Garcia said she was saddened by Lucenario’s untimely demise.
“He truly was a good man,” Garcia said in an email message. “I will always remember him as a dedicated and hardworking colleague, a kind and caring man who endeavored to do his best in everything he did.”
“Doy will be be missed,” she added.
Career
Prior to his assignment in Pakistan, Lucenario served as the country’s top diplomat to Kenya from 2010 to 2013.
Lucenario rose from the ranks, starting as a research clerk for the DFA before he passed the Foreign Service exams, with the rank of Foreign Service Officer 4, in 1990.
“When I was ambassador to New Delhi, India we were practically neighbors. He would stay with me at the ambassador’s residence everytime he’s in India to attend conferences. My family knows him very well,” said Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Benito Valeriano of the Office of Maritime Affairs. “He was a very good man.”
A lawyer by profession, Lucenario served the department in various capacities including assignments in Germany, Hong Kong, and Australia. [See summary of Lucenario’s career here.]
Apart from Lucenario, Norwegian Ambassador Leif Larsen, the wives of the envoys of Malaysia and Indonesia, and the two pilots manning the Pakistani military aircraft were also killed in the crash. They were supposed to visit two government projects in northern Pakistan.