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Republic of the Philippines |
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ||
Constitution Hills, Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. palo

Introduced by REPRESENTATIVE ERIC L. OLIVAREZ

EXPLANATORY NOTE

What actually transpires in a police operation will always be
something that none of us will ever know. Imagine having a relative
be subject to a police operation or being the actual person conducting
the police operation and things do not go as well as planned. What
will be relied on these kinds of situations are only statements and
pieces of evidence, if any, that will never provide the actual veracity
of the occurrence. There will be victims of police officers who exceed
their authority and there will also be police officers who are victims
of those who resist arrest.

Currently, our country has been having numerous day-to-day
police operations especially due to the war against drugs that the
current administration has declared. These police operations have
been subjected to so much controversy as to what actually occur in
said operations. Many have been crying foul against police officers in
their conduct of these operations. However, without the machinery
to capture these occurrences, there will always be a certain amount
of doubt as to truth behind these police operations.

As such, this Bill is intended to address this important matter
by mandating law enforcement personnel to wear a body camera that



will be able to capture footages of an actual police operation in order
to protect those who are arrested and those who arrest. Through
these captured footages, what actually transpires in a_ police
operation will now be known to those involved. This will also serve as
a measure to deter police officers from exceeding their power against
the citizens thereby restoring public trust to the government and the
law enforcement personnel.

In view of the foregoing, the passage of this Bill is earnestly
sought.

Que 6. O~,

ERIC OLIVAREZ


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Constitution Hills, Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. ee

Introduced by REPRESENTATIVE ERIC L. OLIVAREZ

“AN ACT MANDATING THE USE OF BODY CAMERA BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES”

Be it enacted in the Senate and the House of Representatives of the
Republic of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title - This Act shall be known as the “Body
Camera Act of 2020"

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. -It shall be the policy of
the State to:

a. Value the dignity of every human person and guaranty full
respect for human rights;

b. Protect the right of every person not to be deprived of life, liberty,
or property without due process of law or be denied the equal
protection laws;

c. Protect the inviolability of the right of the people to be secure in
their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable
searches and seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose;

d. Protect the accused’s right to be presumed innocent until
proven otherwise.


SECTION 3. Definition of Terms. - For purposes of this Act,
the following terms shall be defined as:

a. Body Camera shall refer to any electronic recording device that
is worn by a person nor law enforcement officer that records
and stores audio and video data;

b. Law Enforcement Officer shall refer to any person authorized by
law to conduct searches and effectuate arrests who is employed
by the government, whether national, local or any subdivision
or agency of government;

c. Subject of the video footage shall reverse to any identifiable law
enforcement officer or any identifiable suspect, victim, detainee,
conversant, injured party, or other similarly situated person
who appears on the body camera recording, and shall not
include people who only incidentally appear on the recording;

d. Use of force shall refer to any action by a law enforcement officer
that:

i. Results in death. injury, complaint of injury, or complaint
of pain that persists beyond the use of physical control;
Involves the use of a weapon, including a personal body
weapon, chemical agent, impact weapon, extend range
impact weapon, sonic weapon, sensory weapon,
conducted energy device, or firearm, against a member of
the public; or

iii, Involves any intentional pointing of a firearm at a member
of the public;
€. Video footage shall refer to any moving images recorded by a
body camera with or without audio.

ii,

SECTION 4 Mandatory Use of Body Camera by Law
Enforcement Officers.- Law enforcement officers with the authority
to conduct searches and make arrests shall wear a body camera.
Such body cameras shall be worn in a location and manner that
maximizes the camera’s ability to capture video footage of the officer’s
activities.


Both the video and audio recording functions of the body
camera shall be activated whenever a law enforcement officer is
responding to a call for service or at the initiation of any other law
enforcement or investigative encounter between a law enforcement
officer and a member of the public. The body camera shall not be
deactivated until the encounter has fully concluded and the law
enforcement officer leaves the scene.

A law enforcement officer who is wearing a body camera shall
notify the subject/s of the recording that they are being recorded by
a body camera as close to the inception of the encounter as is
reasonably possible.

SECTION 5. Retention of Video Footages. - Body camera
footages shall be retained by the law enforcement agency that
employees the officer whose camera captured the footage, or an
authorized agent thereof for six (6) months from the date it was
recorded. After such period, the footage shall be deleted permanently.

During the six (6) month retention period, the following persons
shall have the right to inspect the body camera footage of:

a. Any person who is a subject of body camera video footage,

and/or their designated legal counsel;

b. A parent of a minor subject of body camera video footage.

and/or their designated legal counsel;

c. The spouse, next of kin or legally authorized appointee of
a deceased subject of body camera video footage, and/or
their designated legal counsel;

d. A law enforcement officer whose body camera recorded the
video footage and/or their designated legal counsel,
subject to the limitations and restrictions in this Act;

e. The superior officer of the law enforcement officer whose
body camera recorded the video footage, subject to the
limitations and restrictions in this Act; and


f. Any defense counsel who claims, pursuant to a written
affidavit, to have a reasonable basis for believing a video
may contain evidence that exculpates a client.

The right to inspect, subject to the preceding subsection, shall
not include the right to possess a copy of the body camera video
footage, unless the release of the body camera footage is otherwise
authorized by this Act or by another applicable law.

When a body camera fails to capture some or all of the audio or
video of an incident due to malfunction, displacement or any other
cause that renders the camera incapable to record a footage, any
audio or video footage that is captured by a different camera shall be
treated the same as any other body camera audio or video footage
under the law.

Notwithstanding the retention and deletion requirements, a video
footage shall be automatically retained for a period not less than
three (3) year if the video footage captures an interaction or event
involving any use of force or an encounter about which a complainant
has been registered by a subject of the video footage.

Likewise, body camera footage shall be retained for a period not
less than three (3) years if a longer retention period is requested by
any of the following:

a. The law enforcement officer whose body camera recorded the
video footage, if that officer reasonably asserts the video
footage has evidentiary or exculpatory value;

b. Any law enforcement officer who is a subject of the video
footage, if that officer reasonably asserts the video footage
has evidentiary or exculpatory value;

c. Any superior officer of a law enforcement officer whose body
camera recorded by the video footage or who is a subject of
the video footage, if that superior officer reasonably asserts
the video footage has evidentiary or exculpatory value;

d. Any law enforcement officer, if the video footage is being
retained solely and exclusively for police training purposes;


e. Any member of the public who is a subject of the video
footage;

f. Any parent or legal guardian of a minor who is a subject of
the video footage;

8. A deceased subject’s spouse, next of kin, or legally
authorized designee; or

h. Any competent court.

SECTION 6. Right to Inspect the Videos. —Any member of the
public who is a subject of a video footage recorded by the body camera
or a parent or legal guardian of a minor who is subject of the video
footage, or a deceased subject’s next of kin or legally authorized
appointee, shall be permitted to review the specific video footage in
question in order to make a determination as to whether they will
voluntarily request it be subjected to a three (3) year retention period.

All video footage of an interaction or event captured by a body
camera, if that interaction or event is identified with reasonable
specificity and requested by a member of the public, shall be provided
to the person or entity making the request in accordance with laws
and regulations of the agency.

Where a subject of the video footage is recorded being killed,
shot by a firearm, or grievously injured, shall be prioritized and the
requested video footage shall be provided as expeditiously as
possible, but in no circumstances later than five (5) days following
receipt of the request. The provisions governing the production of
body camera video footage to the public in this Act shall take
precedence over all other laws, rules, and regulations to the contrary.

Body camera video footage may not be withheld from the public
on the basis that it is an investigatory record or was complied for law
enforcement purposes where any person under investigation or
whose conduct is under review is a police officer or other law
enforcement employee and the video footage relates to that person’s
on-the-job conduct.


SECTION 7. Prohibited Acts. - The following shall be

considered as prohibited acts:

a. The surreptitious use of body cameras;

b. The use of body cameras for the purpose of gathering
intelligence information;

c. Activation of body cameras by law enforcement officers while
on the grounds of any public, private or parochial elementary
or secondary school, except when responding to an actual or
imminent threat to life or death;

d. Public disclosure or release of body camera footages by any
government agency, officer, law enforcement agency, officer
or official except:

i, When expressly authorized by law;
ii. Said video footage is subject to public release and
not exempted from public release.

e. Review or receipt of an accounting by a law enforcement
officer t any body camera video footage that is subject to a
minimum three (3) year retention prior to the completion of
any required initial reports, statements, and interviews
regarding the recorded event unless the review or receipt of
an accounting is necessary, while in the field, to address an
immediate threat to life or safety;

f. The viewing of a video footage that is not subject to a
minimum three (3) year retention period by any superior
officer whose body camera recorded the footage absent a
specific allegation of misconduct; and

g. Subjecting a video footage to facial recognition or any other
form of automated analysis or analytics of any kind, unless

i. Authorized through a judicial warrant;
ii. Said judicial warrant specifies the precise video
recording to which the authorization applies; and
iii, The authorizing court finds probable cause to
believe that the video footage contains evidence


that is relevant to an ongoing criminal
investigation.

h. Use of video footage for any commercial or other non-law
enforcement purpose;

i. Independent access, viewing or altering of any video footage
by a third party authorized by a law enforcement agency as
its agent in maintaining body camera footage except to delete
videos as required by law or agency retention policies.

Should any law enforcement officer, employee, or agent fail to

adhere to the recording requirements contained in this chapter or
intentionally interfere with a body camera’s ability to accurately
capture video footage or otherwise manipulate the video footage
captured by a body camera during or after its operation, the
appropriate disciplinary action shall be taken against the individual
officer, employee or agent. Likewise, a rebuttable evidentiary
presumption shall be adopted in favor of criminal defendants who
reasonably asset that exculpatory evidence was destroyed or
captured. Lastly, a rebuttable evidentiary presumption shall be
adopted on behalf of civil plaintiffs suing the government, a law
enforcement agency and/or law enforcement officers for damages
based on police misconduct who reasonably assert that evidence
supporting their claim was destroyed or not captured.

SECTION 8. Penalties. - Any law enforcer in violation of any
provision under Section 8, shall be placed under preventive
suspension for ninety (90) days, subject to further investigation and
preparation of filing of administrative and criminal cases pursuant to
R.S. 10173 or the Data Privacy Act and other applicable laws.

SECTION 9. Implementing Rules and Regulations - Within
sixty (60) days from the promulgation of this Act, the implementing
rules and regulations for the proper implementation of its provisions
shall be formulated by the appropriate government offices or


agencies coordination with all the stakeholders and covered
establishments and institutions.

SECTION 10. Separability Clause. - If any provision of this
Act is declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, the validity of
the other provisions shall not be affected thereby.

SECTION 11. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, orders,
rules and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with this Act are
hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION. 12. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen
(15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in a

newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,