In 2005, the INTERPOL National Central Bureau - Manila launched four (4) projects for enhanced law enforcement in the country.

The “Red Notice” Project

An I nterpol “Red Notice” is one of seven (7) Interpol notices used to assist the international law enforcement community in investigating and solving cases. Basically, an Interpol “Red Notice” is an international request seeking the arrest or provisional arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition based on a valid and outstanding arrest warrant. The notice can be enforced in countries with whom the requesting state has an existing extradition treaty.

Since the first INTERPOL Red Notice request from the NCB-Manila in 2004, twenty-one (21) requests for Red Notice were published at the INTERPOL's I-24/7 database on fugitives. For 2008 only, five were published into the said database.

In order to facilitate the issuance of an I nterpol “Red Notice”, the following are required:

• Request/endorsement from the law enforcement agency

• Valid/outstanding warrant of arrest

• Information/Complaint

• Identity Documents (e.g. passport, birth certificates, locally issued clearances, etc.)

• Photograph(s)

• Fingerprint card

The I-24/7 Expansion Project

The Interpol' s highly secure Global Communication System or I-24/7 Network provides member countries direct access to vital police data. NCB-Manila gained access to I-24/7 in the first quarter of 2002, thus, linking the Philippines to the rest of the 186 Interpol member countries around the globe.

This project aims to realize the full potential of the I-24/7 Network in delivering services to front line law enforcement agencies by making databases available to them. The Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC), as Secretariat to the INTERPOL NCB-Manila, acts as the gateway to I-24/7 for the rest of the members of NCB-Manila and National Law Enforcement Coordinating Council – Sub-Committee on International Law Enforcement Cooperation (NALECC-SCILEC).

At present, the agencies linked with the system are the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the Philippine National Police – Directorate for Operations (PNP-DO). Other members of the NALECC-SCILEC have signified their intention of similarly connecting and gaining access to INTERPOL databases.

Further, to enhance the government's efforts in border management control, the PCTC, through support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), started working on the proposed implementation of the Mobile INTERPOL Network Database (MIND) Project in the Philippines .

On August 18, 2008 , an INTERPOL official from Lyon , France discussed with key officials from IOM, BI, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and the PCTC, the various options for the installation of the MIND system. As agreed during the meeting, three (3) MIND units will be installed separately at PCTC, BI and NICA by September and a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will be formulated for all agencies concerned to follow. Training courses for all users from the different agencies are slated in November 2008. Conversely, the PCTC can access information from the INTERPOL STD database of more than 15 million records to check the validity of travel documents used by persons who enter or leave the Philippines

The “Lost Passport” Project

The Interpol “Lost Passport” Project is primarily designed to sustain the Philippine Government's initiatives against human trafficking. It aims to deter the use of lost, stolen or cancelled passports by criminals in pursuit of their illegal activities.

Under this project, the NCB-Manila uploads into the Interpol' s Stolen Travel Document (STD) database information on lost, stolen or cancelled passports provided monthly by the DFA. So far, the PCTC has uploaded a total of 73,723 entries of lost, stolen or cancelled passports ad of August 2008.

The “Visa Check” Project

The Interpol “Visa Check” Project is designed to assist the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in exercising better control over the vetting process for foreigners who are trying to secure a visa to enter the Philippines .

Under this project, the DFA, upon receipt of an application for a visa, requests the I nterpol NCB-Manila to conduct a derogatory record check on the applicant through its ASF (Automated Search Facility) Nominal Database. Results on any matches or “hits” will be immediately forwarded to the DFA. From 2005 to June 2008, the DFA referred 1488 visa applications for record verification. As of this latest record, no report of denial was made based from implementation of this project.

Interpol assists in identification
of victims of the M/V Princess of the Stars tragedy

In the aftermath of Typhoon Frank which struck the Philippines on June 21, 2008 and led to the sinking of the ferry M/V Princess of the Stars, the INTERPOL offered its assistance to the Philippine Government in the identification of about 800 victims.

On June 29, 2008 , the INTERPOL Incident Response Team (IRT) for Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) and the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) were deployed in Cebu to work with local authorities in the area.

As of the end of August, there were already 1975 DNA samples gathered, consisting of 1663 ante mortem (AM) blood samples and 312 post mortem (PM) blood samples. The collected samples were shipped to Sarajevo , Bosnia - Herzegovina for analysis. As of the latest count, a total of 321 cadavers have been processed and 98 bodies were already claimed by relatives.

However, the IRT noted that there are around 120 missing persons for whom the team has not been able to meet with a relative and collect blood samples for DNA profiling, and whose relatives are believed to be residing abroad. The INTERPOL thereafter launched a worldwide collection of DNA samples from expatriated relatives of victims. This enabled the other National Central Bureaus to contact the relatives abroad and consequently collect blood samples from them for identification.

As more bodies are expected to be recovered when the ferry is refloated, the INTERPOL, with the assistance of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), Police Regional Maritime Office – 7 and the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime - Visayas Field Office (PCTC-VFO), established a mobile forensic laboratory at the Cebu International Port where the victims' remains will be processed for identification.