The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will hire an additional 400 personnel and 120 agents in 2024, Director Medardo G. De Lemos said on Monday, Nov. 13.
The hiring of new personnel and agents was disclosed by De Lemon during the start of the two-day celebration of the 87th anniversary of the NBI held at the Diamond Hotel in Manila.
De Lemos said that Congress gave the NBI P91 million and P19 million as budget for the salary of the new personnel and the training of new agents, respectively.
The budget was given after the NBI's proposed Organizational Structure and Staffing Pattern (OSSP) was approved by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), he said.
He then expressed the NBI's gratitude to DOJ Sec. Jesus Crispin C. Remulla for pushing before Congress the bureau's budgetary requirements.
“We could not have achieved all of these without the active and strong support of the secretary,” he said.
Meanwhile, De Lemos said the construction of the new building at the NBI headquarters in Manila will hopefully start next year.
“Nung Aug. 17 binigyan din tayo ng multi-year contractual authority ng DBM na nagkakahalaga ng P2.4 billion para matapos ang ating building sa 2026 (Last Aug. 17, we were given by the DBM a multi-year contractual authority worth P2.4 billion to finish the building by 2026,” he said.
Last year, he said the NBI was given an initial budget of P100 million for the construction of the building.
He also cited the "the P1.5 billion na binigay sa NEP para sa ating software upgrade at P200 plus million para sa ating hardware (we were also given in our National Expenditure Program P1.5 billion for our software upgrade and P200 plus million for our hardware upgrade).”
“Bibigyan din tayo ng malaking halaga para makabili ng 22 vehicles for NBI (We will also be given a large budget to be able to buy 22 vehicles for the NBI),” he noted.