As the University of the Philippines (UP) marked its 117th founding anniversary on Wednesday, June 18, UP President Angelo Jimenez reaffirmed the national university’s commitment to advancing human rights and reforms in the Philippine justice system with the launch of the National Forensics Institute (NFI) at UP Manila.
“[The NFI will be] a center equipped with cutting-edge laboratories, a rigorous academic curriculum, and a clear mission: to uphold truth, strengthen justice, and serve the Filipino people,” Jimenez declared.
The NFI—which will be housed in the heart of UP’s first campus—is envisioned as the country’s foremost center for forensic education, research, and services. It aims to enhance the capacity of medico-legal systems to conduct science-based criminal investigations and to support the rule of law and human rights-based governance.
Jimenez and UP Manila Chancellor Michael Tee led the launch at Calderon Hall, joined by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Hae Kyong Yu. Also in attendance were Secretary of Justice Jesus Crispin Remulla, Secretary of the Interior and Local Government Juanito Victor Remulla, Monash University Senior Vice President Craig Jeffrey, and officials from the Philippine office of the United Nations.
Fulfilling a human rights commitment
UP Manila is a member of the Technical Working Group (TWG) for the establishment of the NFI, which was created through President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s issuance of Administrative Order (AO) No. 29 on January 22, 2025. The TWG is chaired by the Office of the Executive Secretary and co-chaired by the Department of Justice. Other members include the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Health, the Department of Budget and Management, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat.
Jimenez hailed the TWG’s work as part of a broader commitment to uphold and advance human rights. The Philippines pledged the NFI’s establishment during the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland, on Dec. 10, 2023.
According to Bersamin, the NFI “will contribute to strengthening [the country’s] domestic accountability mechanisms addressing grave human rights violations, particularly extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture,” in accordance with international standards, especially the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Deaths.
“It proclaims our nation’s unwavering commitment to human rights, to justice, and to the rule of law. It demonstrates that when the Philippines makes a promise to the international community, we deliver—and we deliver fast,” he said.
UP Manila to offer masters program in forensic medicine
In line with the TWG’s efforts, UP Manila and Monash University of Australia inked a memorandum of understanding on Oct. 24, 2024, for the joint development of the new Master of Science in Forensic Medicine program. The initiative is supported and co-funded by the Australian government to help train and address the shortage of forensic experts in the Philippines.
Tee said that the proposed program will be “in partial fulfillment of the requirements to address a longstanding gap in forensic capacity: empowering professionals to serve justice that is backed by science.”
The program was approved by the UP Manila University Council on June 16, 2025. It has been submitted to the UP Board of Regents (BOR) for final approval. If approved, UP Manila plans to offer the program starting in the first semester of the upcoming academic year.
The new program will be jointly offered by UP Manila and Monash University and will be taught by faculty members from the two institutions. Among them are Dr. Raquel Del Rosario-Fortun and Dr. Maria Cecilia Lim, the only two forensic pathologists in the Philippines, as well as other UP faculty specializing in areas such as anthropology, toxicology, and law.
Fortun, former chair of the UP Manila College of Medicine’s Department of Pathology, lauded the launch of the NFI and the proposed program as “a good start” toward establishing a death investigation system led by properly trained forensic experts.
“We’ll be starting small [with the program], but this is a huge step because this is the first time that we have support from the national government [and] from a foreign government,” she said.
Photo by Kevin Roque, UP MPRO
