NBI opens P100M center for clearance processing

From the busy Carriedo area to Monumento in Caloocan City and, finally, Taft Avenue in Manila.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) formally opened Wednesday its new clearance center at its main office on Taft Avenue.

“After almost seven years of wandering from Carriedo in downtown Manila to Victory Mall in Caloocan City, the Clearance Processing System has finally returned home to the NBI headquarters where it now has an edifice of its own,” NBI Deputy Director for Technical Services Reynaldo Esmeralda told reporters.

The four-story building, which cost P100 million to construct, was funded by a supplemental budget earlier approved by Congress for the bureau.

With the completion of the building, the NBI will save P2 million a month—the amount it paid for renting the top floors of the Victory Central Mall near Monumento where its main clearance center used to be located.

With the expiration of its contract with the mall in July, the bureau moved clearance processing to its gymnasium and then to parts of the new building until its completion.

The implementation of the National Biometric Clearance System (NBCS) in July is expected to speed up the process in applying for a clearance from the bureau. Instead of ink, the NBI now uses a biometric reader to capture the fingerprints of applicants.

“To date, the National Biometrics Clearance System has [been introduced in] a total of 44 clearance centers nationwide and before the year ends, all sites will be completely online,” Esmeralda said in a speech.

In Metro Manila, the NBI has satellite clearance centers at Robinsons malls in Ermita, Otis, Galleria, Metro East and Cainta; Ever Gotesco malls in Monumento, Grand Central, Manila Plaza and Commonwealth; the Quezon City Hall; and Muntinlupa City Hall. In the provinces, clearance applicants should go to NBI satellite offices.