With all the brouhaha over watch lists these days, I find it absolutely crazy that Ramona Bautista and Senator Ping Lacson evaded the justice system, and yet scholars of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) are permanently put on a watch list of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)...
From 1985 to 1988, I was supported by the DOST in obtaining my undergraduate degree at De La Salle University (DLSU). Shortly thereafter, I obtained permission from DOST to go overseas to take a Masters degree, and subsequently a PhD (in Statistics), working out all the documentary procedures to have DOST agree to postponing my three year service requirement (of serving within the Philippines).
After returning to the Philippines, I worked for nearly a year as a full time asst. prof at DLSU (then joined religious life for five years), then joined government service. I have served a total of twelve years in government to date (8 of them under the Statistical Research and Training Center, and the last four at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies). thus fulfilling my service requirement.
Yet, everytime I have to travel for a long mission overseas, I have to secure an NBI clearance and it takes a while to do that as I, like all DOST scholars, are on a permanent watch list. The DOST Science Education Institute has already requested NBI to take me out of their watch list, but yet, this has not been done, supposedly because the NBI database "can not" be updated "... Huh???? This is really ridiculous... If they can put someone one a watch list, why can't we be taken out ? I was told that the NBI database is complicated, and one can't just delete people on a watch list. This clearly shows that people don't understand databases... and innovation is something that is not practiced, especially in some government agencies, particularly at the NBI. I only wonder whether the fingerprints archived by NBI are at all used for any purpose...
I have complained to DOST and to NBI about this, but until now, there is no action. Clearly, DOST has no control over the NBI database, but there may be a way to help NBI in curing this malady. Otherwise, many of our youth may decide not to be DOST scholars anymore. Do we need to wonder why many scientists prefer not to come back to the Philippines?
