NBI: 50 M clearances since 1997

Manila, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), with the help of information technology partner Mega Data Corp. (MDC), has released more than 50 million clearances since its clearance processing system was computerized in 1997.

In 2010 alone, it issued 6.5 million clearances through its various offices nationwide. More than 25,000 people apply for an NBI clearance daily.

As mandated by Republic Act 157, NBI acts as national clearinghouse of criminal records in the Philippines. An NBI clearance is required in employment, business transactions, visa applications, foreign travels, and government transactions.

The system automation enabled 38 NBI regional and district offices and approximately another 30 more mall-based renewal kiosks and satellite offices to process and issues clearances within a day.

Another MDC technology that has helped NBI improve its clearance renewal process is the automated clearance machine the bureau began installing in its offices and shopping centers in 2008. The NBI ACM is an unmanned clearance renewal machine that works with clearance renewal cards that have an embedded smart chip that stores an applicant’s clearance information including facial and fingerprint biometrics.

The ACM accepts cash with its built-in payment kiosk, checks live face and fingerprint biometrics against those stored in the CRC, takes a new photo and fingerprint scan of an applicant, and prints a new NBI clearance, all without human intervention.