News of the death of former Philippine Ambassador to Pakistan Domingo D. Lucenario Jr. in a helicopter crash in Pakistan recently came as a shock to thousands of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the Kingdom.

Riyadh-based Roy Fernandez, systems engineer at a local firm, told Arab News that the late envoy was instrumental in the passport modernization program. “The e-Passport being used today by Filipinos, including OFWs, has made travel easier and faster, thanks to Lucenario Jr.”

Echoing Fernandez’s views, Cenon C. Sagadal Jr., who works for a bank, said, “The Philippines was one of the few countries that continued to issue manually scripted passports, with photos physically attached on the personal data page.”

He said that the passport could be easily tampered with, and serious doubts about the genuineness of travel documents at sometimes resulted in embarrassing situations at various entry points to other countries around the world.

Sagadal noted that secondary immigration checks on special counters set up specifically to check Filipino passport holders would result in delays during holiday and business trips.

In Buraidah, Dionisio B. Tabuco, Jr., also an engineer, added, “The credibility of the Philippine passport was at a low point.”

To correct the situation, several attempts to implement a machine-readable passport (MRP) system were made by various officials but it was only during the tenure of Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo that the MRP project got off.

Former Ambassador Ramon J. Farolan wrote in a column, “It was Ambassador Domingo Lucenario Jr. as assistant secretary for consular affairs and project manager of the MRP, who provided the leadership and direction needed to ensure the success of the passport modernization agenda.”

Lucenario was one of the fatalities due to the crash of an Ml-17 helicopter carrying 11 foreigners and six Pakistanis at the Naltar Valley, Gilgit region. Pakistan.

Lucenario, who would be 55 on Sept. 3, graduated in 1984 from the San Beda College of Law and passed the bar the same year.

As a career diplomat, he had the rare distinction of having earned three presidential awards— Gawad Mabini Award with the rank of Grand Officer in 2008, Order of Lakandaula Award with the rank of Grand Officer and the Order of Sikatuna Award with the rank of Datu (Gold level) in 2009.

Lucenario Jr. is survived by wife Nida Arada Lucenario, two daughters and a son.