Ambassador Endo attends handover ceremony for forensic equipment at the National Forensics Institute for the “Institutional Investigation of Custodial Deaths Support Project”

2025/8/20

On 20 August 2025, Ambassador ENDO Kazuya attended the handover ceremony for forensic equipment provided by the Government of Japan at the newly established National Forensics Institute (NFI) within the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Medicine. 


This initiative forms is part of the “Institutional Investigation of Custodial Deaths Support Project.” It has been implemented for over approximately two and a half years through a contribution of about USD 133,000 from the Government of Japan to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). This project is expected to contribute to the Philippines’ establishment of an institutional framework for conducting autopsies in custodial death cases, advancing the institutionalization and enhancing the credibility and transparency of the country’s criminal justice system. 


In his remarks, Ambassador Endo emphasized that this donation marks the first tangible contribution by the Government of Japan to support the establishment of the NFI. He highlighted that the NFI was created to strengthen the forensic capabilities of law enforcement agencies and judicial authorities, and recalled Japan’s cooperation with the UNODC to enhance the Philippines’ capacity to investigate custodial deaths. He expressed that the donation represents the culmination of these efforts.
 

Additionally, the NFI has worked with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to formulate a custodial death management policy. These improvements in forensic capacity are expected to reinforce this policy and contribute to the advancement of the Philippine criminal justice system, while further developing Japan–Philippines judicial cooperation.