1. (U) Funded by State's Bureau for International Narcotics
and Law Enforcement Affairs, staff from the International
Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP)
of the Department of Justice has been in place in Manila
since August 2006. Initially with only one Senior Law
Enforcement Advisor, the staff now also includes three
contract staff, who sit at the headquarters of the Philippine
National Police (PNP), where they have received excellent
cooperation and support, and work at numerous locations
around the Philippines.



2. (U) In November 2006, ICITAP staff conducted an initial
Crime Scene Specialist (CSS) course in Zamboanga City in
Muslim Mindanao to provide basic training -- collection,
documentation, and preservation of evidence -- to PNP
investigators and crime laboratory personnel. In January
2007, 23 PNP investigators from the island of Jolo -- where
the Armed Forces of the Philippines is currently engaged in a
major offensive against the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group --
received training in a modified version of the ICITAP CSS
course. ICITAP-trained PNP staff are next preparing a
two-day seminar in March and April 2007 that will target
about 250 PNP patrol officers and other first responders in
Mindanao, as well as local government officials and
politicians, to educate them on the importance of securing
crime scenes and preventing the contamination and loss of
evidence prior to the arrival of qualified crime scene
investigators. This course material relies heavily on the
CSS curriculum. ICITAP staff separately also plan to conduct
at least seven more iterations of CSS training throughout the
country between April ) July 2007, while continuing to
encourage and support PNP,s own internal training efforts.



3. (U) Even in this brief period of activity, ICITAP's
successes have included:
-- ICITAP-trained PNP investigators collected and documented
evidence that led to the positive DNA identification (which
FBI headquarters subsequently verified) of ASG leader
Khadaffy Abubakar Janjalani and ASG operations and logistics
chief Abu Sulaiman, each of whom was on the U.S. FBI's Most
Wanted Terrorists list and each was the subject of a USD 5
million Rewards for Justice program offer; and,
-- ICITAP-trained PNP investigators successfully handled the
scene of the murder of a PNP officer by suspected ASG
operatives and collected evidence that will be used
positively to identify a suspect and to enable local
prosecutors to conduct a trial once there is an arrest.



4. (U) The ICITAP staff is now engaged in supporting one of
the key items in the PNP's own Integrated Transformation
Program -- the model police station project. Given that the
PNP has insufficient resources to begin transformation on an
agency-wide basis, the project will professionalize
operations -- through training and advice in various core
competencies such as respect for human rights, financial
management, internal affairs, and policy development -- at
eight selected police stations around the country. ICITAP
will evaluate development at each station and provide
certificates of achievement when stations meet core
competencies. ICITAP envisions that the PNP will learn
valuable lessons during the process, which it can then
gainfully apply to the professionalization of all stations in
the Philippines.

Visit Embassy Manila's Classified website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/manila/index. cfm
KENNEY