NOTE: This blog has been updated. Please CLICK HERE to see the updated steps and instruction regarding NBI clearance online application.
It pays to be web savvy, big time.
Me and my wife needed to secure NBI clearance so we went to the NBI satellite office located at the Robinson's Mall. The problem was that the NBI application process has been changed. It used to be that you just have to present your previous NBI clearance, pay the fee and if upon verifying that you have no record on file, they will issue the new clearance right away. Recently, however, due to some changes with the processing of the NBI clearance applications, previous NBI clearance are no longer accepted. Applicants were required to fill out new application form and undergo biometric and photo processing. These new changes coupled with the quota of 500 applicants per satellite office and 5000 applicants at the main office on a given business day made the application process slow and cumbersome. The applicants were required to get their number and get in line as early as 10:00 pm the night before if they ever want to obtain their NBI clearance the following day.
We did not want to sacrifice sleep over NBI clearance so we surfed the NBI website to see if they have an online application and, indeed, there was. Applicants who want to avail of their online application service should be forewarned that the only mode of payment available, as of the writing of this blog, is through Gcash offered by Globe telecom. We did not have Gcash service so we went to pay the required fee at the Globe payment center after which we filled out the online application.
These are basically the steps in NBI clearance online application: (always check the NBI website here to make sure you are up-to-date with the online application requirements)
1. Pay the required fee through Gcash. If you do not have Gcash service pay the fee on any accredited Globe payment centers.
2. After the Gcash transaction, you will receive a Payment Reference
Number via a text message. If payments are made through Globe payment center, you will get the Payment Reference Number
from the Globe payment outlet via the receipt.
3. Fill out the online application form then print the OR Code which the NBI office will forward to the email address you provided on your online application.
4. Text NBI via number provided to book an appointment at their main office along UN Ave. in Manila. You will receive reply indicating the date and time you needed to be at their main office.
The online application is not hassle-free but it beats by a long stretch the difficulties of queuing at any of their offices. We were required to be at their main office the following day at 11:00 am for photo and biometric capture. When we arrived at the NBI main office, I just can not believe the very long queue of thousands of applicants the tail end of which spilled out on to the sidewalk outside the building following a winding direction of three layers deep going into the main office ground maintaining the same pattern until the processing area inside the office.
We did not have to fall in line. We presented the printed OR code at the gate and we were told to go straight to the fourth floor. I felt sorry for the lined up applicants as we were passing by them. I knew that they came as early as the night before just to make the cut and I can feel their envy, even some feeling of contempt toward us when the guards directed us to go pass the line and straight to the office. Most of them might have thought that we have some inside connection that allowed us to jump the line.
When we got to the online application center, the situation there was a complete opposite of what was unfolding outside. There were only 3 applicants comfortably seated waiting for their names to be called. After about 30 minutes, I was already holding my NBI clearance.
As we were passing the lined up applicants on our way out, I noticed that most of them were from the younger generations, the one's I usually see crowding the internet cafes and who are expected to be more internet savvy and well informed about the advantages of proper internet usage. How could they not have thought of the online application? I cannot wholly blame them for their lack of knowledge about the NBI online application service because I myself did not see even just one advertisement coming from the NBI office or any government information agency about this online application service. However, in this golden age of information and technology, online application is already the norm. We did not have previous information about the NBI online application service either, but we went to their website, nonetheless, to check just in case they have one, which they actually have.
We Filipinos, especially the younger generations, should be riding the wave and be at the forefront of the fast evolving world of information and technology if we desire not be be left behind by the technologically advanced nations. It is no doubt that we have access to the latest gadgets available in the market today, but the most important thing is the knowledge and information we acquire through the use of these gadgets and how we improve our quality of life through the proper use of these knowledge and information. Of course, we expect our government to be the one spearheading our progress by using all channels available to bring these information to the public knowledge. In cases, however, when government service is lacking, it really pays big time to be self-reliant.
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