Manila (Philippines), 29 October 2025 — Building on years of cooperation in criminal justice reform, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and national authorities in the Philippines have intensified work on strengthening police accountability, professional standards, and data-driven decision-making across the country.
Police reform is an evolving and continuous process that builds on past experience, integrates new evidence and operational practices, and adapts to emerging challenges. One of its objectives is to strengthen the fairness, effectiveness, and integrity of policing through more efficient, accountable, and humane service delivery.
Achieving this requires not only developing the skills and competencies of individual officers but also ensuring that police institutions operate under human-rights-compliant principles and procedures. This calls for a comprehensive review of institutional structures, organizational culture, oversight and accountability mechanisms, human resources and occupational health policies, training curricula, communication strategies, leadership practices, planning and budgeting systems, and equitable workforce representation, including through gender-responsive measures. Together, these elements reinforce a professional policing model that promotes public trust, prevents misconduct and human rights violations, and enhances equal access to justice for all.
UNODC has long-standing experience in supporting Member States to strengthen their police services in line with international standards and norms, recognizing that reform must be systematic and sustained to be effective. This support has included initiatives on strategic and community-oriented policing, investigative interviewing, human-rights-compliant use of force, accountability processes, gender-responsive policing, and other efforts that contribute to institutional professionalization and increased public confidence. Through these initiatives, UNODC promotes approaches that combine policing with access to legal aid, public health, social services, and community institutions, ensuring that responses to crime address underlying factors, improve criminal investigation, and advance equal access to justice for all.
In the Philippines, these broader efforts are being advanced through cooperation with the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to strengthen institutional efficiency, integrity, transparency, and accountability as a core component of reform. Previous cooperation has involved the participatory identification of systemic risks and the development of mitigation measures, with national authorities leading the process and UNODC providing technical guidance as required. This experience has informed a shared understanding of reform priorities and demonstrated the value of structured technical assistance.
In line with the United Nations standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice, and pursuant to the UN General Assembly resolution 78/227 on Equal access to justice for all, which requests UNODC to provide technical and material assistance to Member States, upon request - the UNODC Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Section from UNODC headquarters, undertook jointly with the UNODC Programme Office in the Philippines and the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to consolidate these strands of cooperation into a structured reform programme.
NAPOLCOM, a civilian body under the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) that exercises administrative control and supervision over the Philippine National Police (PNP), welcomed the UNODC delegation at its Central Office in Manila. The meeting included a roundtable with NAPOLCOM Commissioners and Service Directors, which provided a platform to reflect on institutional modernization and areas for enhanced cooperation.
Talks centred on how administrative supervision, inspection protocols, and disciplinary systems could be aligned with international standards to strengthen public confidence.
Vice Chairperson and Executive Officer Atty. Ralph Calinisan expressed appreciation for the constructive dialogue, noting that the collaboration “underscores NAPOLCOM’s commitment to align with international best practices and uphold the principles of transparency, accountability, and respect for human rights in law enforcement.”
UNODC presented comparative examples from its global police-professionalization initiatives, including various accountability models from other regions that balance operational independence with citizen oversight.
The mission extended to NAPOLCOM’s field operations, in NAPOLCOM CALABARZON, which covers the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon. The meeting, led by Regional Director Julieta P. Rañeses, provided an overview of the Commission’s regional functions, including the reception and investigation of complaints related to police misconduct, coordination with relevant authorities and other oversight and investigative bodies and the recommendation or imposition of disciplinary sanctions. The visit demonstrated how guidance from NAPOLCOM headquarters is implemented at regional level, particularly in complaint handling and personnel management.
The delegation also visited police stations and met with frontline officers from the Philippine National Police Women and Children Protection Center in Quezon City and Pasig City, observing how police handle gender-based violence cases and refer survivors to multidisciplinary support and visiting the police lock-up cells. These engagements built on UNODC’s ongoing assistance to strengthen trauma-informed interviewing and child-sensitive procedures highlighting further needs for assistance.
The mission also included a joint meeting with the PNP Center for Police Strategy and Management (CPSM), the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM), the Human Rights Affairs Office (HRAO), and the WCPC. UNODC and PNP reviewed the integration of human-rights indicators into the PATROL Plan 2030. They also agreed to collaborate on public-trust and victimization surveys and on improving data management systems that track performance and community perception of safety.
Participants stressed the need to strengthen evidence-based policing by improving how data is gathered, verified, and used to guide decisions, including through the regular conduct of public trust and victimization surveys, and more reliable systems for crime data analysis. As police operations become increasingly digital, the group also discussed ways to enhance cybersecurity and protect sensitive information within law-enforcement databases.
UNODC will continue to work with NAPOLCOM and the PNP to support identified priorities through the development of a strategic plan for technical assistance including expert exchanges with UNODC experts and facilitating the sharing of lessons learned through North-South and South-South cooperation. These efforts will contribute to advancing accountable, transparent, and human-rights-compliant policing with a strong focus on modernization, police accountability and oversight in the Philippines, in line with international standards and UNODC’s global mandates on access to justice and policing.
“Professional and trusted policing depends on daily decisions that protect rights and uphold fairness,” said Daniele Marchesi, UNODC Country Manager for the Philippines. “Our cooperation with the Philippines builds on national leadership and reform momentum, translating international standards into practical improvements on the ground.”
The mission set in motion concrete next steps: finalizing a results-based plan for technical support with concrete short- medium and long-term measurable results starting in 2026.
As Anna Giudice, Team Leader, Access to Justice Team said: “the NAPOLCOM and PNP have the opportunity to build on previous efforts towards an effective and transparent national police service that is accountable to the people it serves and ensures equal access to justice for all. UNODC is committed to support such a nationally led process which is urgently needed.”
