Being the national topnotcher of the August 2010 Criminology Board Examination

has diverted my plan in becoming a member of the Philippine National Police to teaching
in the university with a focus on criminal justice education. I just turned 20 years old that
time and since I am too young to enter the police force I applied and successfully got a
teaching position at the University of the Cordilleras. What I thought would be a
temporary job became my passion in life.
Six years after, I am still a college educator and I cannot see myself doing
anything else. My dedication in educating future law enforcers and forensic experts made
me decide to expand my services to sixteen different review centers and higher education
institutions, from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, where I serve as lecturer in heir board
examination review program. This enabled me to contribute to the success of thousands
of students to pass the board examination.
My exposure as national review lecturer made me see the gaps in criminal justice
education in the Philippines that need to be addresed and improved. The criminology
curriculum that is currently implemented takes a very general stance and does not address
specific topics that criminologists need to learn. For instance, some schools do not teach
students how to practice proper classification of fingerprints, use of polygraph machine,
or how to collect, handle, and examine different pieces of physical and biological
evidence. In my lectures, I often encounter students complaining about some obsolete
criminalistics methods and techniques taught to them by their undergraduate professors.
This is alarming because as future criminal investigators and forensic scientists, our
students need to receive adequate and relevant knowledge and skills in criminalistics.

I have a strong conviction that these gaps in the curriculum need to be addressed by
realizing a diversified criminal justice education in the Philippines. This can be done by
by creating and offering specific undergraduate program like law enforcement
administration, correctional administration, and forensic science. Giving students the
opportunity to take these specific programs could better hone them for their future
career. I see the K-12 transition period as the perfect opportunity to prepare higher
education institutions in offering those programs.
Studying Master of Science in Forensic Science with Specialization in Criminalistics
in the United States, one of the most advanced countries in the field of forensic science,
would allow me to study their forensic science curriculum; what are the courses and
topics being taught, and how they are being taught. For intance, I would learn about
advance criminalistics techniques like microscopy and microchemistry of trace evidence
such as controlled substances, glass, and fibers and know how to apply
spectrophotometric techniques for the analyses of physical materials of forensic value.
While these lessons are needed by our investigators and forensic experts, they are not yet
being taught in any Criminology school in the Philippines because of the lack of experts
in the academe to do so.
Upon my return, help my university in its plan to offer bachelors degree in forensic
science. I also intend to serve as a member of the Commission on Higher Education
technical panel for forensic science program so I can assist other higher education
institutions that also wish to offer the said program.
Our college is currently one of the institutions awarded by the Commission on Higher
Education as Center of Excellence (COE) in Criminology. With the permission from our

collge dean and other school officials, I would like to use parcel of our COE grant to
organize seminars and workshops where I could share the knowledge and skills I learned
from the US to my fellow professors all-over the country. Help them be abreast with the
lastest breakthroughs in the of criminalistics and share to them the teaching methods I
observed from the United States.
The success of our criminal justice system to prevent and control crimes heavily
relies on our investigators, forensic scientists, and law enforcers. It is the responsibility of
educators, like myself, to continuously improve criminal justice education in our country,
so we may produce graduates who are competent enough to perform those jobs. I believe
that being a fulbrighter and taking a masters degree in forensic science in the United
States would further empower me, so I may better contribute in making that happen.