Long lines for NBI clearance give vendors heyday

Vendors are again having a heyday with the long queues of clearance applicants at the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila. The vendors sell items ranging from food to ballpens for the applicants to use, according to a report by radio dzBB's Roland Bola Tuesday. According to the report, the vendors would start selling their wares before dawn, as applicants start lining up near the NBI head office as early as 1 a.m. However, the sale of food and other items also resulted in a mess in the area, which street sweepers would occasionally clean up. It was a return of sorts for many of the vendors, who left the NBI head office in Manila when it transferred its clearance center to downtown Manila and to Caloocan City in past years. Before the NBI moved its clearance outside its head office in the early 2000s, vendors selling ballpens and community tax certificates would loiter near the main gate, waiting for applicants to enter. Meanwhile, long lines started to form anew before dawn Tuesday at the NBI head office, many of the applicants coming from the provinces. A separate report on dzXL radio said that as of 6 a.m. Tuesday, the number of applicants queueing up had reached 1,000. Last week, NBI Deputy Director for Technical Services Reynaldo Esmeralda appealed for patience as the NBI is working on a new system for clearances. “Kami sa NBI ay humihingi ng paumanhin sa haba ng pila but ginagawa namin ang dapat magawa para mapabilis ang issuance ng NBI clearance. Bago ang sistema natin sa NBI, biometrics na tayo. Hindi tayo gumagamit ng ink at lahat na security measure para di mapeke nariyan na po," Esmeralda had said in an interview on dzRH radio. (We ask for patience from the public over the long queues in waiting for an NBI clearance. We are using a new biometrics system that no longer uses ink.) For now, he said the NBI processes applications for clearances using the new biometric system at its main office along Taft Avenue in Manila. In the meantime, Esmeralda assured applicants the NBI will be strict against jumping the line and other irregularities in applying for a clearance. “Very strict ang aking instruction walang palakasan lahat i-process, walang lamangan dapat regular ang pag-process ng NBI clearance. Hindi ako papayag mangyari yan (I have given strict instructions that there will be no special treatment for any applicant. I will not allow that)," he said. — RSJ, GMA News