National Bureau of Investigation (Philippines)

José Yulo and Manuel L. Quezon, the forefathers of the National Bureau of Investigation, on a 2011 stamp of the Philippines

Signing of an order creating the NBI with President Manuel Roxas and first NBI Director J. Pardo De Tavera

The Bureau of Investigation, later renamed the National Bureau of Investigation, came into existence on June 19, 1947, the date Republic Act 157 was approved. Its history goes back to November 13, 1936, when a Division of Investigation (DI) under the Department of Justice was created with the enactment of Commonwealth Act No. 181 by the First National Assembly. Section 1, C.A. No. 181 provides:

A Division of Investigation under the Department of Justice is hereby created. It shall be composed of such personnel as may be necessary, in the discretion of the Secretary of Justice, and its duties shall be to help in the detection and prosecution of crimes; to acquire, collect, classify and preserve criminal identification records; and to obtain information on all matters affecting the public interest.

The DI was the brainchild of Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon and the then–Secretary of Justice José Yulo. A veteran American police officer, Capt. Thomas Duggan of the New York Police Department (NYPD), and the only Filipino member of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Flaviano Guerrero, were hired by the Philippine government to organize the Division of Investigation of the Department of Justice.

The formation of the DI generated considerable public interest and more than 3,000 applied for the initial 48 positions of NBI Agent. Physical and medical examinations were conducted by doctors from the Philippine General Hospital and San Lazaro Hospital. Of the 3,000 applicants, only 150 were allowed to take the mental test and, of this number, less than 100 passed. After further screening, 48 were certified for employment and of these successful candidates, only 45 actually accepted appointments as Agents.

The DI was then formally organized in 1937 and was composed of forty-five (45) Agents and approximately 100 officials and employees. These included lawyers, doctors, chemists, fingerprint technicians, photographers, research assistants, clerks, stenographers, janitors and messengers. The DI office operated in Manila, where its Agents and technical personnel were dispatched to the provinces from time to time to investigate crimes of public interest or when the necessity arose.

The DI operation was suspended upon the surrender of the Commonwealth Government to the occupying Japanese forces during World War II. The Japanese, however, revived the DI and allowed it to function as a division under the Department of Justice until the establishment of the Japanese puppet Philippine Republic of President José P. Laurel. During the Laurel administration, the DI was merged with the Secret Service Division of the Metropolitan Constabulary (Manila Police Department or MPD) and the Intelligence Unit of the Japanese-run Philippine Constabulary.

Upon the liberation of the Philippines by combined Filipino and American forces in 1945, the DI was not immediately reorganized since most of its original members were seconded in the service of the United States Army Counterintelligence Corps (CIC). After the surrender of Japan in August 1945, the DI was reactivated and the original members were called back to the service. The reactivated DI started with no records or equipment, most of which had been systematically destroyed by DI personnel for security reasons in order to prevent classified documents and equipment from falling into the hands of the Japanese.

In 1947, as the Philippines struggled to recover from the ravages of war, criminality in all its forms increased dramatically, straining the meager resources of the newly reorganized police service in effectively combating sophisticated organized crime groups and the solution of complex crimes. Due to the increase of lawlessness in the land, DI personnel agitated for the conversion of the Division of Investigation into a bureau, believing that an enlarged, highly professional and better equipped bureau similar to that of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation was needed to effectively fight organized crime groups and solve crimes of a complex nature.

In response, Congress filed House Bill No. 1162, from which Republic Act No. 157 originated. R.A. 157 was approved by Congress and enacted into law on June 19, 1947. Thus was born the Bureau of Investigation. For all intents and purposes, the Bureau of Investigation (BI) was patterned after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in organization, functions and objectives. The FBI also evolved into its present size from humble beginnings as a division of the United States Department of Justice. The Bureau of Investigation created under R.A. 157 was later renamed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) by virtue of Executive Order No. 94, issued on October 4, 1947, by then President Manuel A. Roxas.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is a line agency under the Department of Justice and serves as the premier investigative agency of government. The agency director is a Presidential appointee and serves under the trust and confidence of the President and the Secretary of Justice (SOJ).

The rank hierarchy within the NBI Rank structure since 2019 is:

• Director → Deputy Director → Assistant Director → Regional Director → Assistant Regional Director → Head Agent → Supervising Agent → Senior Agent → Investigation Agent III

NBI is a civilian but National in scope law enforcement agency and its rank cannot be quantified with the Military Rank

NBI main office at Taft Avenue, Manila.

The heads of the NBI since the founding on November 13, 1936 were:

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