NBI's ATM-like smart card for distressed seamen
"Renewing NBI clearance," from OFW HELPLINE with a Q and A format.
Q: I am a seaman who spends eight months abroad and four months with my family in Mindoro. Every year, before meeting my ship in Yokohama, Japan, I have to renew my NBI clearance and this takes much time because I have one namesake with an estafa case and another who has a criminal record. Each time, before I can get my NBI clearance, I must secure from the NBI-Carriedo office a certification that I am not either of the two namesakes with derogatory records. Is there a way that I don't have to do this every year?
A: The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) now offers a smart card that works like a bank ATM card. Next time, you go to the NBI-Carriedo office (for our readers, the complete address is Carriedo Plaza, Carriedo corner Estero Segado St., Sta. Cruz, Manila), ask for the smart card, which will have your photo and your thumb print plus NBI data showing that you are not your namesake with an estafa case or with a criminal record.
You can show this in any NBI branch in the malls and you can get your NBI clearance within 20 minutes. As a seaman, the cost to you is still Php115. The card is for life. This means you don't have to renew the card like a driver's license.
However, this also means that the NBI information inside your card is only good up to the time that you received it. If another namesake is, say, sent to jail for rape after you received your smart card, this information is not included in your smart card. True, you will have to be back to Carriedo or, in your case, to your nearest regional computerized NBI office in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro or in Batangas City to get a certification that you are not the rapist.
But, at least, the NBI will no longer check your name against the estafa case or the criminal record. Since the NBI has less namesakes to check, you will probably get your NBI clearance within the same day.
Getting the smart card is easy so you don't need to deal with a fixer. Oh yes, if you intend to have any form of plastic surgery such as having your nose fixed, do this before you have your picture taken for the smart card. The smart card will accept up to 70 per cent accuracy as far as your face is concerned.
Here's some more good news. The NBI will put up ATM-like machines called automated clearing machines or ACMs in malls next year. You can insert your smart card like an ATM and pay your Php115 fee like a vending machine or PLDT pay phone and your NBI clearance will come out in seconds.
As a final reminder, check your NBI clearance when you get it. If it's the real thing, it has a bar code, just like the ones you see when you buy something from the supermarket or the drugstore and it has an NBI dry seal at the lower left portion of the certificate.
If you have any complaints, you can write directly to NBI director Nestor Mantaring, NBI compound, Taft Ave. Ermita 1000, Manila or you can email edph@nbi.gov.ph. You can also call the NBI head office at 523-8231 local 5523.
-http://ofw.balita.ph
Q: I am a seaman who spends eight months abroad and four months with my family in Mindoro. Every year, before meeting my ship in Yokohama, Japan, I have to renew my NBI clearance and this takes much time because I have one namesake with an estafa case and another who has a criminal record. Each time, before I can get my NBI clearance, I must secure from the NBI-Carriedo office a certification that I am not either of the two namesakes with derogatory records. Is there a way that I don't have to do this every year?
A: The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) now offers a smart card that works like a bank ATM card. Next time, you go to the NBI-Carriedo office (for our readers, the complete address is Carriedo Plaza, Carriedo corner Estero Segado St., Sta. Cruz, Manila), ask for the smart card, which will have your photo and your thumb print plus NBI data showing that you are not your namesake with an estafa case or with a criminal record.
You can show this in any NBI branch in the malls and you can get your NBI clearance within 20 minutes. As a seaman, the cost to you is still Php115. The card is for life. This means you don't have to renew the card like a driver's license.
However, this also means that the NBI information inside your card is only good up to the time that you received it. If another namesake is, say, sent to jail for rape after you received your smart card, this information is not included in your smart card. True, you will have to be back to Carriedo or, in your case, to your nearest regional computerized NBI office in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro or in Batangas City to get a certification that you are not the rapist.
But, at least, the NBI will no longer check your name against the estafa case or the criminal record. Since the NBI has less namesakes to check, you will probably get your NBI clearance within the same day.
Getting the smart card is easy so you don't need to deal with a fixer. Oh yes, if you intend to have any form of plastic surgery such as having your nose fixed, do this before you have your picture taken for the smart card. The smart card will accept up to 70 per cent accuracy as far as your face is concerned.
Here's some more good news. The NBI will put up ATM-like machines called automated clearing machines or ACMs in malls next year. You can insert your smart card like an ATM and pay your Php115 fee like a vending machine or PLDT pay phone and your NBI clearance will come out in seconds.
As a final reminder, check your NBI clearance when you get it. If it's the real thing, it has a bar code, just like the ones you see when you buy something from the supermarket or the drugstore and it has an NBI dry seal at the lower left portion of the certificate.
If you have any complaints, you can write directly to NBI director Nestor Mantaring, NBI compound, Taft Ave. Ermita 1000, Manila or you can email edph@nbi.gov.ph. You can also call the NBI head office at 523-8231 local 5523.
-http://ofw.balita.ph
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