NBI reins in ‘confidential’ agents ... again

Virtually admitting its failure to rid its ranks of so-called confidential agents, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has clamped down on the issuing of permits to carry firearms. In a memorandum dated March 27, NBI officer-in-charge Nestor Mantaring said permits to carry firearms and mission orders not signed by heads of office are considered void. “Only the head of office or officer-in-charge shall sign mission orders and permits to carry firearms to NBI consultants. All previous MOs and PTCs to NBI consultants signed by any Bureau official other than the present head of office or officer-in-charge are hereby cancelled/revoked," he said. Any violation of the memorandum by any official or employee shall be ground for administrative sanctions, Mantaring said. He also stressed the NBI has not authorized any private group to conduct intelligence or investigative operations, particularly a group calling itself “INTELCEPT." Even the “INTELCEPT" hierarchy has ordered its members not to claim any association with the NBI, Mantaring noted. But Mantaring did not elaborate. Confidential agents have been a boon and a bane to the NBI, which has been lacking in manpower because of the low salaries it offers to prospective members. But in past years, many of these confidential agents have been linked to abuses ranging from indiscriminate firing of weapons to extortion to usurpation of authority. In 2002, the late director Reynaldo Wycoco canceled permit and ID issuances to confidential agents, only to see them return as “consultants."-GMANews.TV