13TH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
. 
First Regular Session 
SE 
E 
S. No. 
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INTRODGCED 
BY HON. MANUEL B. VILLAR JR. 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The country has witnessed the escalation of crimes with syndicates habitually 
committing crimes to the detriment of peace and order and the public welfare. lndividuals and 
families have been victimized and brutalized in heinous crimes, with criminals committing them 
with impunity due to their political connections. To aggravate the situation, law enforcement 
personnel who are supposed to be protectors of the people take advantage of their positions also 
in the pursuit of lawless undertakings. 
The identification of the criminal elements who are often out in the open is therefore 
essential for crime eradication. Law enforcement could quickly resolve cases being investigated 
if they have immediate access to updated criminal records. This can be done if there is a 
national crime database, which will therefore not only be used for obtaining the necessary job or 
police clearances. 
This bill seeks to establish a national crime database that will be useful in the 
elimination of crime and crimina1 elements. 
MAN 
M A N ~ E L  
B. ILLAR, JR. 
P 


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13TH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
.
I
 
SENATE 
s. do. 
INTRODUCED BY HON. MANUEL B. VLLAR JR. 
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL CRIME DATABASE 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. This Act shall be know as the “National Crime Database Act of 
2004.” 
SECTION 2. Purposes. The purposes of this Act are: 
(a) to create a complete and accurate national criminal record database that is an essential 
element in fighting crime; and 
(b) to require the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police to 
provide information and records for the National Identification Index and the National 
Fingerprint File and to provide criminal-history records, in a timely fashion, to criminal- 
history record repositories and for non-criminal-justice purposes, to update existing 
criminal record systems that are currently outdated and contain incomplete or incorrect 
information; and 
to male accessible detailed databases of criminal-history records, including arrests and 
dispositions. 
(c) 
SECTION 3. Definition of Terms. As used in this Act: 
(a) “Crime database officer” means, an official so designated by the Director of the NE31 as 
the chief administrator of the region’s criminal-history record repository or a designee 
who is a regular full-time employee of that repository. 
(b) “Criminal-history records” means information collected by criminal-justice agencies on 
individuals consisting of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, 
indictments, or other formal criminal charges, and any disposition arising therefrom, 
including acquittal, sentencing, correctional supervision, or release. The term does not 
include identification information such as fingerprint records if such information does 
not indicate involvement of the individual with the criminal justice system. 
(c) “Criminal-history record repository” means the8 agency designated by the appropriate 
executive official or the legislature to perform centralized record-keeping functions for 
criminal-history records and services in the State. 
(d) “Criminal justice” encompasses any of the following activities: detection, apprehension, 
detention, pretrial release, post-trial release, prosecution, adjudication, correctional 
supervision, or rehabilitation of accused persons or criminal offenders. 
The 


administration of criminal justice shall include criminal identification activities and the 
collection, storage, and dissemination of criminal-history records. 
(e) “Criminal-justice agency” means (1) Courts; (2) a governmental agency or any subunit 
thereof which performs the administration of criminal justice pursuant to a stature or 
executive order, and which allocates a substantial part of its annual budget to the 
administration of criminal justice. 
(f) “Criminal-justice services” means services provided by the NE31 to criminal-justice 
agencies in response to a request for information about a particular individual or as an 
update to information previously provided for criminal justice purposes. 
(8) “Direct access” means access to the National Identification Index by computer terminal 
or other automated means not requiring the assistance of or intervention by any other 
party or agency. 
(h) “NBI” means the National Bureau of Investigation 
(i) “PNP” means the Philippine National Police 
(j) “Interregional Identification Index System” or “111 System” means the system for the 
storage of criminal-history records and includes the National Identification Index, the 
National Fingerprint File and, the criminal-history record repositories of the “€31, the 
PNP, the Courts, and other criminal justice agencies. 
(k) “National Fingerprint File” means a database of fingerprints, or other uniquely personal 
identifying information, about an arrested or charged individual maintained by the NBI to 
provide positive identification of record subjects indexed in the I11 System. 
(1) “National Identification Index” means an index maintained by the NBI consisting of 
names, identifying numbers, and other descriptive information relating to record subjects 
about whom there are criminal-history records in the 111 System 
(m) “National indices” means the National Identification Index and the National Fingerprint 
File. 
(n) “Non-criminal-justice purposes” means uses of the criminal-history record for crime 
prevention and other legitimate law enforcement purposes authorized by federal or state 
law including, but not limited to, employment suitability or licensing determinations, 
immigration and naturalization matters, and national security clearances. 
(0) “Positive identification” means a determination, based upon a comparison of fingerprints 
or other equally reliable biometric identification techniques, that the subject of a record 
search is the person as the subject of a criminal-history record or records indexed in the 
I11 System. 
(p) “Regional unit” means the NE31 or PNP regional units covering the 14 geographical 
regions of the Philippines, unless otherwise specified. 
(4) ‘“I31 National Office” means the main office which shall have control over the national 
indices of the national crime database. 
SECTION 4. Establishment of National Crime Database Council. 
(a) There is hereby established a National Crime Database Council which shall have the 
authority to promulgate rules and procedures governing the use of the I11 System for 
criminal-justice and non-criminal-justice purposes. The Council shall be located, for 
administrative purposes, within the NBI main office. The Council shall be organized and 
its first meeting held as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act. 
(b) The Council shall consist of 8 members: 
(1) Director of the National Bureau of Investigation 
(2) Secretary of Justice 
(3) Secretary ofhterior ani   oca^ Government 
(4) Court Administrator 
(5) Chief of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force 
(6) Head of the Crime Prevention and Coordination Service of the National Police 
Commission 


(7) Director of the Philippine National Police Computer Center 
(8) Representative of a non-governmental organization involved in crime prevention 
and eradication. 
(a) The Chairman of the Council shall be a member of and elected by the members of 
the Council. The Chairman shall serve a two-year term and may be re-elected to 
only one additional two-year term. 
(b) The Council shall meet at least once a year. Meetings shall be open to the public. 
Appropriate prior public notices shall be provided. 
(c) The Council shall have authority to request from the NBU such reports, studies, 
statistics, or other information or materials as it finds necessary to enable it to 
perform its duties under this Act. The NBI, to the extent authorized by law, may 
provide such assistance or information. 
(d) The Chairman may establish technical or other committees as necessary and may 
prescribe their membership, responsibilities, and duration. 
SECTION 5. Development of a Plan for Establishing a National Crime Database. 
(1) In general - Not later than 45 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the National 
Crime Database Council, in coordination with other criminal-justice agencies, and after 
consultation with the different regional directors of both the National Bureau of 
Investigation and the Philippine National Police, shall develop a plan on how to create a 
national crime database, using the interregional identification index system or 111 system, 
to which the criminal justice agencies shall have direct access. 
(2) Objective - The objective of the plan developed under paragraph (1) shall be to 
establish a national crime database, which shall include the criminal history records, 
with samples of fingerprints, and the disposition of cases, if any. The existing database 
of criminal history records being used for employment or travel clearances shall be 
updated and integrated with proposed national crime database. 
SECTION 6. Responsibilities of Criminal Justice Agencies. 
(a) NBI Responsibilities 
1. The NBI Director shall appoint a NBI Crime Database Officer who will: 
(A) have responsibility for administering the provisions of this Act within the NBI 
and criminal justice agency community. 
(B) Ensure that any provisions and rules, procedures, and standards established under 
this Act are complied with; and 
(C) Regulate the use of records received by means of the I11 System form other 
criminal justice agencies when such records are supplied by the NE31 directly to 
other criminal justice agencies. 
(1) The NBI will provide to criminal justice agencies and to regional 
criminal-history record repositories, criminal-history records maintained 
in its database for non-criminal-justice purposes described in Section 3, 
(2) The NE31 will provide a telecommunications network and maintain 
centralized facilities for the exchange of criminal-history records for both 
criminal-justice and non-criminal-justice purposes described in Section 
3, paragraphs (d) and (n). The NE31 will ensure that the exchange of these 
records for criminal-justice purposes has priority over exchange for non- 
criminal-justice purposes. 
paragraph (n)* 


(3) The NE31 will modify or enter into user agreements with regional 
criminal-history record repositories to require them to establish record- 
request procedures conforming to those prescribed in this Act. 
(b) Responsibilities of the NE31 and PNP regional units 
1. Each regional unit shall appoint a crime database officer who will: 
(A) have responsibility for administering the provisions of this Act within that 
region; 
(B) ensure that provisions and rules, procedures, and standards established under 
this Act and other forthcoming implementing rules are complied within the 
region; and 
(C) regulate the in-region use of records received by means of the 111 System from 
the NBI National Office or from other criminal justice agencies. 
2. Each regional criminal-history record repository will: 
(A) provide information and records for the National Identification Index and the 
(B) provide the region's I11 System-indexed criminal-history records for non- 
(C) be managed by the regional NE31 unit. 
National Fingerprint File; and 
criminal-justice purposes described in Section 3, paragraph (n); and 
3. Each regional unit will participate in the National Fingerprint File. 
4. Each regional unit will provide and maintain telecommunications links and 
related equipment necessary to support the services set forth in this Act. 
(c) TheCourts 
1. The courts will provide the data concerning the disposition of cases, to be 
included in criminal history records. 
2. The courts will provide information as to the status of pending cases. 
(a) Compliance with I11 System Standards. 
In carrying out their responsibilities under the Act, criminal justice agencies and the NBI 
will comply with system rules, procedures, and standards duly established under this Act and 
any implementing rules or regulation issued by the National Crime Database Council, 
Concerning record dissemination and use, response time, data quality, system security, and 
other aspects of system operation. 
(d) Maintenance of Record Services 
1. Use of the 111 System for non-criminal-justice purposes authorized in this Act 
shall be managed so as not to diminish the level of service provided in support of 
criminal-justice purposes. 
2. Administration of the provisions of this Act shall not reduce the level of service 
available to authorized non-criminal-justice users on the effective date of this Act. 
SECTION 7. Authorized Record Disclosures. 
(a) To the extent authorized by our laws which authorize national indices checks, the NBI 
National Office criminal-history record repository will provide on request criminal- 
history records to regional criminal-history record repositories for non-criminal-justice 
purposes. 


(b) The NBI National Office criminal-history record repository, and regional criminal- 
history record repositories will provide criminal-history records to criminal-justice 
agencies and other government or nongovernmental agencies for non-criminal-justice 
purposes allowed by our laws, which authorize national indices checks. 
(c) Records obtained under this Act may be used only for the official purposes for which 
they were requested. Implementing rules and regulations shall be issued, that shall 
establish procedures and measures consistent with the provisions of this Act, to ensure 
that records are used only by authorized officials for authorized purposes and to require 
that subsequent record checks are requested to obtain current information whenever a 
new need arises. These procedures must ensure that record entries that may not legally 
be used for a particular non-criminal-justice purpose will be deleted from the response 
and, if no information authorized for release remains, an appropriate “no record” 
response will be communicated to the requesting official. 
SECTION 8. Record-request Procedures. 
(a) Applicant fingerprints or other approved forms of positive identification will be 
submitted with all requests for criminal-history record checks for non-criminal-justice 
purposes. 
(b) Requests for criminal-history record checks utilizing the National Indices made under 
any law shall be submitted through that regional criminal-history records repository. A 
regional criminal-history record repository will process interregional requests for non- 
criminal-justice purposes through the national indices only if such requests are 
transmitted through another regional criminal-history record repository or the NBI 
National Office. 
(c) Request for criminal-history record checks utilizing the National Indices made under any 
law shall be submitted through the NE31 National Office or, if the repository consents to 
process fingerprint submissions, through the repository in the region in which such 
requests originated. Direct access to the National Identification Index by entities other 
than the NBI National Office and regional criminal-history records repositories shall not 
be permitted for non-criminal-justice purposes. 
(d) The NBI National Office and the regional criminal-history record repository may charge 
fees for handling requests involving fingerprint processing for non-criminal-justice 
purposes. No fees will be charges, however, for providing criminal-history records in 
response to an electronic request for a record that does not involve a request to process 
fingerprints. 
(e) If a regional repository cannot positively identify the subject of a record request made 
for non-criminal-justice purposes, then the request, together with fingerprints or other 
approved identifying information, will be forwarded to the NBI National Office for a 
search of the national indices. If the NE31 positively identify the subject as having a 111 
System-indexed record or records, then the NBI will so advise the regional repository 
that submitted the request. The repository will then be entitled to obtain the additional 
criminal-history record information from the NBI or other regional repositories. 
SECTION 13. 
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Effectivity Clause. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
Approved,