DEPARTMENT of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” C. Remulla Jr. on Monday hit what he described as “multi-billion rackets” of some government service providers and called for a stoppage of those operations which he said benefits only a few but affects all Filipinos.

During the launching of the “E-Booking” or PNP Digital Booking System at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters at Camp Crame, the DOJ chief said one main problem facing the young Marcos administration is the presence of “rackets” being committed by some government service providers.

He specifically mentioned service providers working at the Bureau of Customs (BOC), the Land Transportation Office (LTO), and the Land Registration Authority (LRA).

“One problem is yung racket ng mga nagpo-provide ng computerized system sa gobyerno kasama ang BOC, LTO, LRA at marami pang iba na tila may problema tayo. Katulad ng sa LRA, yung provider ng computer system, ang kinikita sa bawat taon mahigit P15 billion, yung nakukuha ng LRA, mga P3 billion lang,” Remulla said.

He said that at the BOC, the service provider has been there for nearly 12 years and getting P65 per customs’ transaction. The DOJ chief also mentioned that at the LTO, the old service provider Stradcom still refuses to give its database to the same office.

“Kawawa ang taumbayan kaya this has to end. Kaya I laud, I praise and give due credit to the PNP for having an independent e-system that will not allow itself to be part of a racket,” Remulla.

He particularly lauded PNP chief General Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr. and PNP Director for Investigation and Detective Management (PNP-DIDM) Major Gen. Eliseo DC Cruz, for coming up with such a “brilliant idea” that will surely benefit the government and the entire Filipino nation.

“Sana po matuloy na matigil na mga racket na kawawa ang taumbayan dahil ang sinisingil ay ang sa taumbayan. Me P75 na karga sa lisensiya, sana po tumigil na yan and we’re doing the stops right now. We will renegotiate these contracts para matigil na rackets na yan,” Remulla.

‘PNP E-Booking System: Template for gov’t use’

Remulla congratulated the PNP leadership for coming up with the E-Booking System or Digital Booking System, which he will recommend as a template for the government to help increase its revenues at virtually no cost.

“Congratulations PNP at kayo ngayon ang basehan ng reporma,” the DOJ chief said.

Azurin said Remulla really appreciated the E-Booking system initiated by Cruz since it showed that the PNP is now capable of coming up with such a program.

“Ang sabi niya, me mga service providers na mas kumikita pa kesa sa isang agency na me kontrata sila. Mas lumalabas na mas malaki pa ang kinikita ng provider kesa sa agency kaya he (Remulla) expect na more of this kind will be initiated para mawala na ang parusa sa taumbayan who pay so much pero puwede naman pala na very minimal ang cost,” the top cop said.

Cruz said that the E-Booking system is free and will save the police force a huge amount of money which can be used for other programs.

Before, the fingerprints of arrested lawbreakers being subjected to booking procedures in PNP stations were being taken thru the use of so-called 10-print cards, which cost nearly P10 each.

These 10-Print cards taken by police stations are submitted to provincial police offices before being forwarded to regional police headquarters and eventually to the PNP Forensic Group headquarters. The process not only costs money but also sometimes affects the cross-matching procedures due to many factors.

Under the E-Booking system of the police force, heavy-duty fingerprint scanners will be used to take the fingerprints of arrested law offenders and people seeking National Police Clearance for inclusion in the database of the PNP-FG’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).

Cruz said that thru the system, police will also have a much easier and more accurate program to identify the owners of fingerprints left at a crime scene.

The official said that the system allows police to detect the owner of a fingerprint within seconds.

The PNP-DIDM director said the system would be very helpful to the police force since, at the very least, if 800 criminals are arrested and booked daily, their fingerprints will be stored in the AFIS database along with the over 15,000 Filipinos getting the National Police Clearance daily.

“With that database, it would be very easy for our forensic group experts investigating a crime scene to conduct a cross-matching in their database and find the real suspects,” he said.

The PNP-DIDM said that with the help of the PNP Information Technology Management Service, it is continuously striving to enhance the current system being used to fight criminality and, at the same time, improve the PNP’s crime solution efficiency.