The Philippine national police has already provided an additional 26,000 files into the fingerprint database, said police chief Director General Arturo Lomibao.

Lomibao, who visited FBI headquarters last week, said FBI Deputy Director John Pistole expressed gratitude for the contribution, and offered ''technical assistance of the FBI to the Philippine national police in the utilization of the system.''

Lomibao and Pistole also discussed prospects for better cooperation in terms of training, information sharing and intelligence exchange regarding transnational terrorist and criminal organizations.

''The Philippine national police welcomes every opportunity to explore other areas of cooperation with the international law enforcement community in terms of information exchange, cross-training, capacity-building and technical assistance,'' Lomibao said.

The FBI has been accommodating Philippine police personnel in its regular training sessions at the FBI National Academy and in its training programs in the Asia-Pacific region.

Senior Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao, spokesman for the Philippine national police, said international assistance has already boosted the local force's technical capability.

''But we still find the urgent need to keep pace with technology and cope with the growing sophistication of organized crime and transnational terrorism,'' he said.