Abolish police, NBI clearance requirement — solon
A lawmaker questioned the requirement of a police or National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) clearance for employment and other engagements.
Albay Representative Joey Salceda made the statement as he lamented the recent breach of personal data of as many as one million Filipinos, as stored in an exposed and compromised database of the Philippine National Police.
According to the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, the government should consider doing away police or NBI clearance to the law-abiding citizens.
“Frankly, the PNP and other law enforcement agencies should not be in the business of storing the personal data of law-abiding citizens. And besides, that distracts from their law enforcement functions,” Salceda said.
“If you are involved in some crime, we can probably get your data easily anyway. Rather than putting ordinary law-abiding citizens through the hassle and expense of clearances, as well as the risk of data breach, why don’t we normalize due diligence among employers?”he added.
The solon is proposing the abolition of these clearances for most cases.
He added that government agencies may not have the in-house capacity to guard personal data, “so we should minimize personal data collection whenever we can.”
“You have under 100,000 crimes in the country every year. But 99.9 percent of the population has to get a clearance saying they do not have trouble with the law. It really makes no sense. It’s expensive for jobseekers, it’s distracting for law enforcement, and it’s a waste of time for employers,” he stressed.
