Police clearance proposal in DOLE transactions unnecessary: DOJ

MANILA – The proposal to require a national police clearance (NPC) when transacting with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is allowed under the law but implementing the policy raises questions.

Department of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Friday the NPC may not be necessary.

“It’s a policy issue rather than a legal one. Although it’s not illegal per se to require a police clearance for certain public transactions, the question is, is it necessary for a particular type of transaction with the DOLE?” he said in text message.

Guevarra said the NPC will add another layer of bureaucratic fat.

“What purpose will it serve? Does it add to red tape? These are policy, not legal, questions” he added.

In a letter to DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III on March 10, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Debold Sinas said it hopes the agency will support the National Police Clearance System (NPCS) by making it a requirement in various transactions.

“In using the NPC, the DOLE will have a much broader information as to the character of an individual because of its much larger scope, coverage, and databases relied upon, and at the same time, will be able to further contribute to our endeavor of attaining a safer place for the Filipino people and do business,” Sinas’ letter read.

The NPC is eyed as a replacement for the local police clearance (LPC), which Sinas said has limited information.

“Since the record checking is localized (under the LPC), an individual may be cleared in one jurisdiction although he has criminal records in other places,” Sinas told Bello.

Under the NPCS, a number of crime-related database which are national in scope and updated in real-time are used in record checking.

The database includes the Crime Information, Reporting and Analysis System, previously known as the e-blotter, and which records all crimes that were reported to police stations nationwide.

It also includes the Case Information and Database Management System, which is a central database of information on cases; the E-Rogue Gallery System, a repository of all arrested persons nationwide; and the E-Warrant System, where all warrants of arrest issued by courts are electronically stored.