Gwyneth Perseveranda

The University of the Philippines (UP) Manila has forged an alliance with Australia’s Monash University to facilitate Forensic Science training and research activities for a new generation of forensic scientists, set to begin in February next year.


The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) announced in a press statement on October 25 that a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed between UP Manila and Monash University, represented by chancellor Michael Tee and deputy vice chancellor and senior vice president Craig Jeffrey, respectively.

As outlined in the MOA, Monash University will send forensic experts and doctors to the Philippines, funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT), to help UP develop forensic science programs and scale up the numbers of forensic scientists in the country.

“The long-term objective of this partnership is to build forensic science institutes in the country and increase Filipino forensic experts who will teach and train in these institutes,” the CHED said.

Through this agreement, UP Manila will incorporate the forensic science program of the partnered institution and train its faculty members through a “transnational education portal”.

Monash offers two-year master’s degrees and short-term certificates issued jointly by the two learning institutions, in accordance with the Republic Act No. 11448, also known as the Transnational Education Law.

Meanwhile, the chair of the Pathology Department of UP Manila’s College of Medicine and one of the country’s two forensic pathologists Dr. Raquel Fortun, stated that she “expects a bright future for the justice system” as UP Manila steps up to develop forensic science.

“I waited 30 years for this, and now I am more than two years away from retirement,” said Fortun.

“We don’t have a death investigation system, which is beneficial to our criminal justice and public health issues and we are not seriously interested in preventing deaths by learning from them,” Fortun added.

In the Philippines, the medicolegal death investigation is led by the Philippine National Police, who oversee both the criminal investigation and the details of the death investigation.

Over the years, Fortun has been calling for death investigations independent from law enforcing agencies.
Human rights groups have underscored conflicts of interest in the death investigation system, citing NBI findings of evidence planting, inconsistencies, and report tampering by PNP personnel in DOJ-reviewed drug war cases.

“Now there’s hope,” Fortun said, as a new system of death investigation gears up in the country.