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BUILDING A VIOLENT CRIMINAL APPREHENSION PROGRAM IN THE PHILIPPINES There’s an old saying that goes, “If it works, why reinvent the wheel?” But I’d add — if it works elsewhere , why not build our own version that fits our needs? That’s the idea behind the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) in the United States — and something I believe we urgently need in the Philippines. For those unfamiliar, ViCAP is a centralized database managed by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). It collects and analyzes information on violent crimes — murders, sexual assaults, missing persons with suspected foul play, and even unidentified remains. What makes it powerful is not just its data, but its design: it can detect patterns across cases that appear unrelated. For example, if two crimes committed hundreds of miles apart show similar behavior or methods, ViCAP can flag those links, helping investigators connect the dots and identify serial offenders. Now, let’s look at our ...

HOW ARE CHILD PROTECTION SERVICES MANAGED IN THE PHILIPPINES? There’s an old saying that “too many cooks could spoil the broth.” Sadly, that seems to describe the state of child protection services in the Philippines . There are many agencies—each with noble intentions and specific mandates—but the coordination among them often looks more like a relay race without a baton than a symphony with a conductor. From what I see, everybody is doing something , but nobody seems to be leading the whole effort . Who’s really in charge? Officially, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the lead implementing agency for child protection programs. It operates rescue and rehabilitation services, shelters, and reintegration programs for abused, neglected, or exploited children. Its legal mandate comes mainly from Republic Act No. 7610 , the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act . Under this law, the DSWD runs Child Protection Units (CPU...

WHAT IS A COMBINED DNA INDEX SYSTEM? DNA science began in the mid-1800s when a Swiss physician named Friedrich Miescher first isolated what he called “nuclein.” But its true foundation was laid only in 1953, when James Watson and Francis Crick, building on the X-ray diffraction work of Rosalind Franklin, discovered the double-helix structure of DNA. That discovery changed biology—and justice—forever. Yet here we are, 72 years later , still without a national DNA index system of our own. That’s a shame. Because while DNA technology has transformed forensic investigation in countries like the United States, it remains underutilized in the Philippines, even though we have the brains, the labs, and the will to use it. 🔬 What is CODIS? The Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) is the U.S. FBI’s DNA database—one of the most powerful tools in modern law enforcement. It allows police, crime labs, and prosecutors to compare DNA profiles from crime scenes, convicted offenders, arrestees, and missi...