DOJ: NBI to implement General Purpose / Multi-Purpose NBI Clearance pic.twitter.com/x0qRXm8Jcb

— Ina Reformina (@InaReformina) February 21, 2017

MANILA - To spare the public from additional costs and simplify the current criminal records clearance system, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will soon implement a general purpose/multi-purpose NBI clearance system.

In a two-page department order, dated February 15, 2017, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II directed the NBI to implement the new system which shall apply prospectively to all applications for NBI clearances, and shall take effect after fifteen days from date of publication in at least two newspapers of general circulation.

The NBI is directed to immediately change the format of the current NBI clearance for it to bear the phrase "'Issued for whatever legal purpose' instead of 'specific purpose.'"

The current and existing formats for NBI clearance shall be replaced with the multi-purpose clearance.

The move is "to complement the directive of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for government services to be accessible to the public and lessen the expense entailed by Filipinos to avail such service, the following directives are hereby issued for the implementation of the NBI and guidance of the general public," according to the department order.