National DNA Database Act gets Senate approval on 3rd reading

The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading the proposed National DNA Database Act with a vote of 20-0-0.

Senate Bill 2474 seeks to establish and maintain a fair, responsible, ethical, and efficient criminal justice system.

“This landmark legislation is indeed our way of making leaps and bounds in our quest for a more efficient and more effective administration of justice. With the aid of technology, our police will have access to an essential tool that will help them in solving crimes,” Senator Ronald dela Rosa, the principal sponsor of the bill, said during the Senate session.

“For our law enforcement agents, this law is a weapon, a deterrent, against criminals. The existence of a DNA Database will also equip our prosecutors with the necessary evidence to convict law offenders. Correspondingly, the DNA Database can be instrumental to another suspect’s exoneration,” he added.

Under the measure, the DNA database will serve as a tool to identify persons who might have been involved in a crime, prove the innocence or guilt of a person allegedly involved in the crime, clear a person wrongly convicted, and assist in the identification of missing or unidentified human remains.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) Forensic Group – DNA Laboratory Division is tasked to manage the DNA Database.

Among its obligations include establishing mechanisms to facilitate the storage and management of data, ensuring that the data is secure and confidential at all times, and storing and disposing of samples used for forensic DNA analysis.

The bill also establishes a National DNA Database Scientific Advisory
Committee that would develop DNA testing database quality assurance standards, including standards for testing the proficiency of forensic laboratories and forensic analysts conducting forensic DNA analysis.

Committee members would include representatives of the PNP, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of Justice, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Health, the National Privacy Commission, and the Commission on Human Rights.

The measure also stated that DNA profiles can only be accessed for administering the database and comparing DNA profiles or information during an investigation conducted by a law enforcement agency or during judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings.

The DNA profiles can also be accessed by a person to whom the information relates.

Those ordered by a court due to a pending case, and active members of the military, uniformed personnel, and other law enforcement agencies are required to provide their biological samples.

The measure also stated that the DNA profile of a person contained in the voluntary or missing person’s indices may request that their DNA profile be deleted from the DNA database.

Those found tampering with DNA records and samples, improper disclosure and disposal of DNA samples and records, refusal to give samples, and unauthorized access or intentional breach will be penalized. — DVM, GMA Integrated News