Senate resolution cites PH envoy in crash

The Senate on Tuesday passed resolutions condoling with the family of Philippine Ambassador to Pakistan Domingo Lucenario Jr., who perished in a helicopter crash, and with the people of Nepal who suffered a devastating earthquake recently.

“Lucenario’s untimely demise, without a doubt, is an immense loss to us, and the Senate joins the nation and his family in their moment of mourning for the loss of a distinguished public servant,” stated one of two resolutions mourning the loss of Lucenario.

Senators Cynthia Villar and Lito Lapid authored the Lucenario resolutions.

The crash that took Lucenario’s life occurred on May 8 in Pakistan. Lucenario was with other diplomats who were on an inspection tour of development projects. Authorities are still investigating whether the crash was due to mechanical failure or a terrorist attack.

The Senate honored Lucenario for his accomplishments. It noted that he was the only Filipino career diplomat who had the rare distinction of having been awarded three major Presidential awards for his exceptional and meritorious stint in the foreign service.

He also served as ambassador to Kenya and was the Philippine non-resident envoy to Burundi, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Uganda, Somalia and Tanzania. He was the Philippine Permanent Representative to the UN Environment Program and the UN Human Settlements Program.

He was also noted for being the project manager of the Philippine machine-readable electronic passport program which allowed Filipinos to travel internationally with ease, among other projects of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The Senate also expressed its sympathy for Nepal with the adoption of the Lapid resolution noting the loss of lives and destruction of properties from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit it.