SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
Third Regular Session 
) 
'i5 SEP 17 A4 :2/'· 
SENATE 
S. No. 
2958 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
AN ACT 
TO IMPROVE THE PRESERVATION AND ACCESSIBILITY 
OF BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The Constitution, Article 2, Section 10 provides: "Section 10. The State shall 
promote social justice in all phases of national development." 
The value of properly preserved biological evidence has been enhanced by the 
discovery of modern DNA testing methods, which, coupled with a comprehensive system 
of DNA databases that store crime scene and offender profiles, allow law enforcement to 
improve its crime-solving potential. 
The Innocence Project, established in 1992 at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of 
Law of the Yeshiva University in New York and dedicated to exonerating the innocent 
through post-conviction DNA testing, has helped in the exoneration of more than 215 
people in the United States. The Innocence Project's groundbreaking use of DNA 
technology to free innocent people has provided irrefutable proof that wrongful 
convictions are not isolated or rare events but instead arise from systemic defects. 
The Philippines can only benefit from these learning and use it to enhance local 
investigative and law enforcement procedures. 
Tapping the potential of preserved biological evidence reqUires the proper 
identification, collection, preservation, storage, cataloguing, and organization of such 
evidence. Simple but crucial enhancements to protocols for properly preserving 
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biological evidence can solve old crimes, enhance public safety, and settle claims of 
innocence. 
Innocent people mistakenly convicted of the serious crimes for which biological 
evidence is probative cannot prove their innocence if such evidence is not accessible for 
testing in appropriate circumstances. 
Aside from the wrongfully convicted and their families, cnmc victims, law 
enforcement, prosecutors, courts, and the public are harmed whenever individuals guilty 
of crimes elude justice while innocent individuals are imprisoned for crimes they did not 
. , 
commIt. 
• This bill was originally filed in tile Fifteenth Congress, Second Regular Session 
2 


SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
Third Regular Session 
) 
SENATE 
S.No. 
2958 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
AN ACT 
';') SEP 1'7 A4 :2~) 
TO IMPROVE THE PRESERVATION AND ACCESSIBILITY 
OF BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
1 
SECTION l. Short Title. - This act shall be known as the This Act shall be 
2 
known as the "Biological Evidence Preservation Act." 
3 
SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is the policy of the State to convict the 
4 
guilty and protect the innocent. Towards this end, enhancements to protocois for properly 
5 
preserving biological evidence can solve old crimes, enhance public safety, and settle 
6, 
claims of innocence. 
7 
SECTION 3. Definitions. - For purposes of this Act, the terms: 
8 
(a) "Biological evidence" means the contents of a sexual assault examination kit 
9 
and any item that contains blood, semen, hair, saliva, skin tissue, fingernail scrapings, 
10 
bone, bodily fluids, or other identifiable biological material that was collected as 
11 
part of the criminal investigation or may reasonably be used to incriminate or exculpate 
12 
any person for the offense. This definition applies whether the material is catalogued 
13 
separately (e.g., on a slide, a swab, or 
in a test tube) or is present on other evidence 
14 
(including, but not limited to, clothing, ligatures, bedding or other household material, 
15 
drinking cups, cigarettes, etc.); 


I 
(b) "DNA" means deoxyribonucleic acid; 
2 
(c) "Custody" means persons currently incarcerated, civilly committed, on 
3 
parole, probation, or subject to sex offender registration; 
4 
(d) "Profile" means a unique identifier of an individual, derived from DNA; 
5 
(e) "State" refers to any governmental or public entity within (including all 
6 
private entities that perform such functions) and its officials or employees, including but 
7 
not limited to law enforcement agencies, prosecutors' offices, courts, public hospitals, 
8 
crime laboratories, and any other entity or individual charged with the collection, storage, 
9 
and/or retrieval of biological evidence; and 
10 
(f) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Justice. 
II 
SECTION 4. Preservation of Evidence Procedures. -
(a) The State shall 
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preserve all biological evidence: 
13 
(1) That is secured in relation to an investigation or prosecution of a 
14 
crime for the period of time that the crime remains unsolved; or 
15 
(2) That is secured in relation to an investigation or prosecution of a 
16 
crime for the period of time that the person convicted of that crime remains in 
17 
custody; and 
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(3) That is in the custody ofa law enforcement agency of the State on 
19 
the effective date of this Act. 
20 
(b) This Act applies to evidence that: 
21 
(1) Was in the possession of the State during the investigation and 
22 
prosecution of the case; and 
23 
(2) At the time of conviction was likely to contain biological material. 
24 
(c) The State shall not destroy biological evidence should additional co-
25 
defendant(s), convicted of the same crime, remain in custody and shall preserve said 
26 
evidence for the period oftime in which all co-defendants remain in custody. 
2 


1 
(d) The State shall retain evidence in the amount and manner sufficient to 
2 
develop a DNA profile from the biological material contained in or included on the 
3 
evidence. 
4 
( e) Upon written request by the defendant, the State shall prepare an inventory of 
5 
biological evidence that has been preserved in connection with the defendant's criminal 
6 
case. 
7 
(f) The State may destroy evidence that includes biological material before the 
8 
expiration of the time period specified in subsection (a) of this section if all of the 
9 
following apply: 
10 
(1) No other provlSlon of law requires the State to preserve the 
11 
evidence. 
12 
(2) The State sends certified delivery of notice of intent to destroy the 
13 
evidence to: 
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(i) All persons who remain 111 custody as a result of the 
15 
criminal conviction, delinquency adjudication, or conimitment related to 
16 
the evidence in question; 
17 
(ii) The attorney o[record for each person in custody; and 
18 
(iii) The Department of Justice. 
19 
(3) No person who is notified under the preceding subsection does 
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either of the following within one hundred eighty (180) days after the date on 
21 
which the person received the notice: 
22 
(i) Files a motion for testing of evidence; or 
23 
(ii) Submits a written request for retention of evidence to the 
24 
State entity which provided notice of its intent to destroy evidence under 
25 
the preceding subsection. 
3 


1 
(g) If, after providing notice under Section (4)(f)(2) of this Act of its intent to 
2 
destroy evidence, the State receives a written request for retention of the evidence, the 
3 
State shall retain the evidence while the person remains in custody. 
4 
(h) The State shall not be required to preserve physical evidence that is of such a 
5 
size, bulk, or physical character as to render retention impracticable. When such retention 
6 
is impracticable, the State shall remove and preserve portions of the material evidence 
7 
likely to contain biological evidence related to the offense in a quantity sufficient to 
8 
permit future DNA testing before returning or disposing of said physical evidence. 
9 
(i) Should the State be called upon to produce biological evidence that could not 
10 
be located and whose preservation was required under the provisions of this statute, the 
11 
chief evidence custodian assigned to the entity charged with the preservation of said 
12 
evidence shall provide an affidavit in which he or she stipulates, under penalty of perjury, 
13 
that describes the efforts taken to locate that evidence and that the evidence could not be 
14 
located. 
15 
SECTION 5. Remedies for Noncompliance. - If the court finds that biological 
16 
evidence was destroyed in violation of the provisions of this Act, it shall impose 
17 
appropriate sanctions and order appropriate remedies. 
18 
SECTION 
6. Creation of a Task Force to Recommend Procedures and 
19 
Practices to Improve the Preservation of Biological Evidence. - A Task Force for the 
20 
Preservation of Biological Evidence shall be convened and headed by the Secretary 
21 
of Justice, and shall be composed often (10) members: 
22 
(a) A member of the Philippine Judicial Academy; 
23 
(b) A dean ofa Philippine law school; 
24 
(c) A representative of the Philippine National Police; 
25 
(d) A representative of the Office of the National Prosecution Service; 
4 


1 
(e) A representative of the Public Attorney's Office; 
2 
(f) A member of the Committee on Justice and Human Riglyts of the Senate; 
3 
(g) A member ofthe Committee on Justice of the House of Representatives; 
4 
(h) A representative of the National Bureau of Investigation; 
5 
(i) An expert in forensic science; and 
6 
(j) A representative of a victims rights organization. 
7 
SECTION 7. Duties a/the Task Force. - The Task Force for the Preservation of 
8 
Biological Evidence shall: 
9 
(a) Establish 
standards 
regarding 
proper 
identification, 
coli ecti on, 
10 
preservation, storage, cataloguing, and organization of biological evidence; 
11 
(b) Recommend essential components of training programs for law enforcement 
12 
officers and other relevant employees that are charged with preserving and retrieving 
13 
biological evidence regarding the methods and procedures referenced in this Act; and 
14 
( c) Issue recommendations regarding the creation of a centralized tracking 
15 
system through which laboratories, facilities and other related entities may locate 
16 
biological evidence connected to felony cases, which include: 
17 
(1) Protocol for the retrieval of biological evidence for cases that have 
18 
already resulted in felony convictions; 
19 
(2) Protocol for the retrieval of biological evidence for unsolved felony 
20 
cases; and 
21 
(3) Practices, 
protocols, 
models, 
and 
resources 
for 
the 
22 
cataloguing 
and accessibility of preserved biological evidence already in the 
23 
possession of State entities that preserve such evidence. 
24 
(d) Formulate and issue the implementing rules and regulations of this Act. 
5 


1 
SECTION 8. Standards and Training of Evidence Custodians. - In consultation 
2 
with the Task Force, the Department of Justice shall administer and conduct training 
3 
programs for law enforcement officers and other relevant employees charged with 
4 
preserving and cataloguing biological evidence regarding the methods and procedures 
5 
referenced in this Act. 
6 
SECTION 9. Appropriations. - To carry out the provisions of this Act, such 
7 
amount as may be necessary is hereby authorized to be appropriated from the National 
8 
Treasury. Thereafter, such amount necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act shall 
9 
be included in the annual appropriation of the Department of Justice. 
10 
SECTION 10. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations 
11 
or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed, amended 
12 
or modified accordingly. 
13 
SECTION 11. Separability Clause. - If, for any reason, any provision of this Act 
14 
is declared to be unconstitutional or invalid, the other sections or provisions which are 
15 
not affected shall continue to be in full force and effect. 
16 
SECTION 12. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) 
17 
days following its publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of general 
18 
circulation. 
Approved, 
imat9Sept20 15 
6