PHILIPPINE STAR/EDD GUMBAN

A WINNING congressional candidate on Tuesday said he wants to simplify the hiring process by prohibting employers from requesting multiple criminal clearances, aiming to spare Filipinos of additional expenses in their job hunt. 

“Once hired, an employer may require only one such clearance — not multiple documents like police, NBI, barangay, and court certificates, which are commonly required today,” Raymond Adrian E. Salceda, Albay congressman-elect, said in a statement.

“Requiring NBI or police clearance before any offer is even made forces the poor to pay suspicion,” he added.

The proposed measure would seek to bar employers from requesting multiple criminal background clearances from the police and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), among others, to unburden Filipinos searching for jobs.

He said the proposal could encourage around 185,000 to 220,000 Filipinos to join the workforce annually, including rural job applicants and first-time job seekers, often discouraged by clearance fees that range from P100 to P500. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio