best place to get your NBI clearance in metro manila

UPDATE 01-23-2014: 

Online NBI Clearance Application is back! Starting January 24, 2014 you may now register via http://www.doj.gov.ph/nbi

i have written a post about this announcement: check it out here!


ORIGINAL POST 01-16-2014:

i've done a bit of research online and found that the best and least crowded place to get your NBI clearance in metro manila is at ROBINSONS OTIS which is just a tricycle away from the NBI main office. so far ha, so far. who knows now that its gaining popularity, one day it'll be like those satellite centers where you have to line up at least 9pm the day before just to get a number! i get the feeling that people are pulling over at the main office more kaya naman nane-neglect yung fact na may mas maluwag na NBI center nearby hehe

the first quarter of each year is said to be the peak season for applying/renewing NBI clearances, and i think it's also because it's the peak season for getting a job (or a new one)! why?
- for some people, new year = new job! (like me!)
- octoberians are probably done job hunting and are in the 'requirements' stage already hehe
- some employees usually resign after they get their christmas bonuses, which mean they probably get new jobs within the first months of the year
- december means end-of-contract period for contractuals, so yeah, more job hunters to consider

GENERALLY, it's job hunting season and and we all know how a NBI clearance is always part of the pre-employment requirements list, so you could only imagine how busy this season is for everyone! >XD hehe

anyway, since the e-clearance and e-payment services are still offline (and it's already 4 months as per their website announcement, NBI what the heck are you doing ba?!) here's your best chance if you don't want to set camp and stay overnight just to ensure you'll reach the quota number of people served per day.

how to go to Robinsons Otis:
- ride a bus going to Quiapo and get down at NBI Main Office at UN Ave. (or take the LRT and get off at UN Ave. Station)
- cross to where mcdonalds and jollibee is
- ride an ORDINARY yellow tricycle (Php 10) at the corner of UCBP near jolibee, punuan po ito. you can opt for the SPECIAL tryke pero that's Php 60 already hehe
- get off at Robinsons Otis

what to bring:
- valid ID
- black ballpen
- php 120 pesos (php 115 clearance fee, php 5 envelope)
- snacks while waiting
- anything to keep you entertained for long hours. bring a book, or load your phone/tab with movies/series, load games, bring a powerbank too in case you run out of bat, etc.

here's a timeline:
4am - left home (fairview qc)
5am - arrived at robinsons otis, was among the first 50 people. there are chairs lined at the entrance for NBI applicants.
8am - by this time i believe the headcount has already reached 300 which is the maximum number of people nbi otis can accommodate for that day
9am - guard started distributing numbers

10am - finally ushered people inside the mall and kept them in a holding area

holding area with free mags :)

12nn - finally got my clearance! 

so you see, the process took a lengthy 2 hours still, and that's because they lack machines. 

they only have 1 cashier (which is enough b/c payment is usually a breeze), 2 encoding/biometric counters (which caused the long queue for steps 2 and 3), and only 1 printer.

so there, arrived at 5am, waited for 5hrs to get inside, then waited another 2hrs for the processing. sucks right? but that's already the best you have in the metro. if you want to be #1 in line you have to be there as early as 3am. :)

good luck!

SMART sign off :)

last monday (jan 13), i spent my last day at the office organizing stuff for the turnover, attending to my clearance requirements, packing up, and treating my officemates to pizza! hahaha

in fairness, it was a hard decision for me to treat everyone pizza being that i'm going to be poorita until my first payday at pointwest (which sadly got moved again! argh!) haha. nevertheless, it's gonna be the last time naman eh so no regrets. :)

mon, myka, sheila, me, mich, donita, and tina :)

with my farewell pizza haha

i will certainly miss smart for all the things it has taught me and most specially for the friends i've earned along the way! i will miss janine! naks ang sweet ko! hahaha i never thought i'd grow really close to this girl! she's my closest friend and teammate and i'll miss our harutans, asarans, lunchsss, and tawanans over random stuff! >X')

w/ janine

i will also miss mela and michael and all the lunches we spent tolerating each others' kacornyhan. hahaha

w/ mela 

i will miss my first boss and supervisor, sir ken, who patiently taught me perl and gave me pep talks and trivias. he's one of those higher-ups i don't mind being corny with and i treasure all the laughter we shared together! >XD he gave me a very thoughtful parting gift (the time keeper by mitch albom), now i'm thinking of attending albom's book signing at glorietta this feb! >XD

i will miss sir arian, my fateful second sup haha, the OCest boss i've ever served. now i can assure him no one's gonna mess with his magnets anymore! hahaha also sir rio, my manager whom i look up to a freakin lot, someday i'll be like him, perceptive and reliable! >XD

and of course, sa lahat ng nakatawanan ko, mamimiss ko silang lahat specially yung mga ka-area ko. yung mga nakakatawanan ko lang talaga mamimiss ko sorry. chaka pala yung mga suki ko sa load, at sa makeup! HAHA

to my ROC and FMS team mates! i will never forget them for being so fun! >XD

teryo, sir arian, layt, fred, ben, mela, feli, ronald, me :)

 in the next picture i specifically asked them to look sad kunyari kaso si feli ano eh! grar haha

aside from the people, i will also miss the pride that goes along with being a smart employee and a makati-girl naks haha, the many many employee perks, the lobby events, promos, freebies, the CR with bidet and kitchen-towel-quality tissue, my private cr at 23rd floor haha (seryoso! i'll miss the cr! esp during the many times my stomach has waged war on me, the cr for handicapped at the 23rd proved a silent refuge HAHA), and lastly, ate's chichaken, crinkles, and sweet corn! >XD

aw. haha ang dami kong mamimiss sana may makamiss din sakin hahahaha

Ally's All-Day Breakfast Place

i've been meaning to blog about my Ally's experience pero tinatamad ako haha anyway, here it is! all-day breakfast places are becoming a trend right now, but Ally's here became known for its DIY pancakes! it's basically like ordering at BRGR Project, but pancake/waffle edition this time hehe.

when i first visited Ally's they gave out small forms with a checklist of how you want your pancake served (selections at the right part of pic below). but recently they only give out list order forms where your WRITE your orders instead. hehe mejo messy but anyway. haha

my first pancake at ally's! my all time favorite as well, blueberry creamcheeese!

classic, pancake, blueberry, cream cheese, crushed graham and maple syrup - Php 170

 my sister's order, pretty much like mine but with more toppings and sausages at the side hehe:

classic pancake, blueberry, cream cheese, nutella, crushed graham, walnuts, maple syrup - Php 240

breakfast sausages on the sides - add Php 55

 in fairness, the pancakes were big, heavy and not too sweet, allowing you to really savor your selection of toppings.


on my second visit, i tried out their Adobo Flakes for Php 120

twin sunny side up, adobo flakes, tomato salsa, rice with toasted garlic on top

the pork adobo flakes were really tasty and flavorful however it wasn't as crispy as the other adobo flakes i've tried, in fact it wasn't crispy at all, but it's still good. i love the tomato salsa but the serving was too small! anyway it's just salted chopped tomatoes and green bell pepper, very easy to make. hehe for Php 120 this is super sulit and very heavy as well! Actually, i also ordered a blueberry cream cheese pancake along with this and i wasn't able to finish it! haha

on the other side of the table, jeckie ordered banana waffle with additional sides :)

waffle, bananas, maple syrup - Php 125

scrambled eggs (php 35) and bacon (php 55) on the sides 

 in fairness to the waffles they were really big! taller than the 2 pcs pancake. i tried it at bit and it tastes just like the classic pancake hehe.

that's all we've tried so far, and YES i want you to try it out as well! Ally's main selling point is their DIY pancakes so it's must that you try them out if it's your first time. As for their set meals, they do have a large selection you can try.

the only downside with eating at Ally's is that their place is really small. The inside can probably only accommodate 20 guests (assuming all tables are full), and outside they only have 4 tables. if you're coming in groups you may want to reserve. yup, good thing they accept reservations free of charge! otherwise, you may have to wait to be seated coming in on peak lunch and dinner times. :)

here are photos of some parts of menu for your reference hehe

Ally's All-day Breakfast Place
50 Malingap st., Sikatuna Village, QC
Monday-Sunday
7am - 10pm
0906 444 3878
https://www.facebook.com/AllysAllDay

lenovo L1VE concert

in celebration of being the #1 pc vendor worldwide, lenovo (in cooperation with microsoft) threw in a concert for those who  purchased select lenovo products during their promo period last year. since i bought a flex 14 last december, i was able to get 2 vip tickets. i was planning on selling it pero matumal eh so i just went with a friend para di sayang! hahaha

we weren't able to catch the free shuttle at paseo center makati (yes, RWM offers free shuttle to members and membership is free! click here for more details), and we'd be running late if we took our chances at mcdo valero (loooong walk!) so we decided to hail a cab instead. from paseo center to resorts world manila, the fare cost  around 130 pesos. but since we took the skyway, we added 20 pesos. keri na diba? haha

with my colleague tina, thanks for coming!

the newport performing arts theater opened at 8pm so while waiting at the lobby, kate torralba entertained us with her awesome singing! i know right? kate torralba the stockings designer? i was surprised to hear that she has a musical prowess din pala! ayos!

designer, singer, musician kate torralba serenaded us with classics and audience requests!

it was really refreshing to hear her sing. her voice has some kindof norah jones quality to it, and her playing is really good as well. frustrated pianist here! and look at the piano, see something? think it's a grand piano? haha natuwa ako nung napansin ko how it's just an electric organ cased in a grand-piano housing. hahaha >XD

the entire concert was accompanied by the manila philharmonic orchestra so you could only imagine how epic that was. super duper bow.

pic spam below!

nina with her opening song

thanks to the LED stream haha

since the event was exclusive, it's quite acceptable there's not a full house. but the energy went really high specially when rico blanco went off stage to rock with the audience! sayang he didn't come our way, photo op sana. hahaha

lastly, the ukelele ensemble philippines also graced the concert with a number. it was really cool! and their pack is so diverse ah! kudos! hahaha >XD

overall it was great concert! rico blanco was crazy and grabe ampogi nya hahahaha instant crush! at kahit sobrang paos ako non keribels lang sa pagtili! >XD

thank you lenovo!

moved for the nth time! >XD

another blog! sorry guys (naks as if may nagbabasa), i'll try to settle at Yan Gabbles for as long as i can. hahaha >XD it's quite a pain having to move blogs you know, i have to import all my entries and comments, register the new blog to ad sites, to feedburner, to histats, i have to update my co.nr redirection and create a new one as well (btw yanbirog.co.nr will always redirect to my active blog), i also have to delete other blogsites to avoid redundancy, need to copy/enhance layout and go through the pain of manually transferring sidebar content (cos apparently, backing up your template doesn't preserve the html/javascript content. arg), and finally i have to create a WELCOME POST!!

so welcome to YAN GABBLES, i did my best to pick a title i would most probably stick to for at least 3 months HAHAHA, so there you go. feel free to read through whatever. hehe if you're nice you can leave no-hate comments, i love reading comments, hehe or if you have something to discuss privately, whatever, there's a CONTACT FORM somewhere in the sidebar, checkitout. >:)

hehehehe have a happy day!

hello 2014!

a collage of the fun times spent this 2013!

i'm soooo excited for this year! majorly because i'm finally leaving my job! haha! no i don't really hate it, i just don't feel worthy anymore, plus it's super far, so yeah there's that.

happy new year everyone! i know it's a pretty late greeting, actually this entry was sitting on my drafts for a while now, was supposed to post it on new year's eve but the connection wasn't so good (i wonder why? haha), so yeah. hehe

i know i've made a list of things that made 2013 notable for me, and might i say, it's a very very conservative list. looking through the pictures (i've imported to the pc) on my phone, here's a much longer list of highlights, some sad, but mostly happy! hehe



1. the Yearbook 2012 project was completed! and although distribution was a bit stressful, the team managed to pull it off with the help of others and also the admin, now only 5 yearbooks are left with us all tagged and ready to ship if only their owners would contact us. hehe i consider this as my proudest creative stint yet. :)

2. Red Cross Million Volunteer Run! i ran my first outdoor marathon! that 5k felt like forever! haha

3. i won my first movie screening contest from Nuffnang, which marked the beginning of more movie contests i won! malamang, eto yung taon kung kelan pinakamaraming beses akong nakapanood sa sinehan! haha

4. Jeckie's college graduation yahoo! >:3

5. mam grace's resignation. it was sad, cos i grew dependent on her a lot, but it's also a blessing cos i was given more to handle, more to learn, and more people to supervise. naks. and now i resign. HAHAHA lol.

6. pastor rutti's death. super sad. you know how's there's like a family doctor? he's like a family pastor for us. T_T

7. opportunity to illustrate! after all, #5 wasn't so bad cos in mam grace's new venture, i was invited to illustrate children's books! and although it hasn't really started yet, i'm sooo looking forward to it!

5. i enrolled in a gym, with a pool! so for awhile i was like so excited to end work so i could catch the pool before 8! then work got extra demeaning, causing me render more OTYs, therefore losing swim time. huhu

6. enchanted kingdom with jeckie! where he started to appreciate heights, finally! hahaha

7. won vikings gc! hihi

8. won a contest for most creative blog entry! we're 5 winners actually hehe but there were like hundreds who joined ok? hahaha

9. i bought a TV for my parents' anniv :D

10. my parent's silver anniversary celebration!

11. i got chickenpox for the first time. boo

12. designed stuff for The Storytelling Project's Run for Reading event! >XD

13. 2nd year anniversary with jeckie! <3 <3 <3

14. i got in to Mary Kay and sold makeup for a while hahaha because of this i learned to do my own makeup. now i always wear makeup, specially after my chickenpox left me with hideous scars on the face huhu

15. i bought a study desk. wala lang, biggest purchase ever, as in literally. hahaha

16. i ran my first 10k on a treadmil!

17. signed up and ran for nike we run manila! a 10k running event i completed in almost 2 hours haha after that day, my left leg started acting up again (past past past injury huhu). so for now i can't run. T__T and also because of that complication, i missed milo marathon huhu. sayang 500 haha

18. moved to victory nova :)

19. got into a cell group :)

20. got water baptized for the first time!

21. tried juice diet and looooved it, if only it wasn't so expensive. haha

22. applied for HP. passed and got an offer, but had to decline cos they can't wait for my availability. i cried so much over it but eventually i had to accept that it's not really for me. anyway, it's nice to know i made the cut at least. :)

23. received my christmas bonus for the first time in FULL! cos last 2012, being new regulars our bonuses were prorated. hihi much rich! so money! sadly, they're all goooone before the year ended hahaha

24. because i bought a leg massager and a laptop! enough said! haha

25. applied at Pointwest and got in! haha

26. RESIGNED! whew!

that's pretty much 2013 for me, thanks to all the pictures i took for helping me make this list! >XD looking forward to a more eventful and positive 2014! :)

how to get POLICE CLEARANCE at QC City Hall

based on my experience earlier :)

what to bring:

1. photocopy of a valid ID
2. ballpen
3. 250 pesos (100 for order of payment and 150 for police clearance/id processing)
4. wet wipes (for fingerprints or just pay 5 pesos)

procedure:

1. get an 'order of payment' for police clearance

apparently the term 'order of payment' applies to a lot of documents so if you're gonna ask around make sure you ask specifically for the police clearance order of payment, otherwise the guards will lead you to an 'order of payment' booth outside the city treasurer's office.

so where exactly in the city hall complex should you get that? you should go to the police clearance station (sorry i didn't really get the name of the place, no labels) across the philippine red cross building which is near Gate 5 (Kalayaan Ave.) so if you're from commonwealth area like me, you can opt to ride a jeepney to kalayaan and alight at Gate 5. you can also ride a bus and alight at East Ave. Gate 3, and from that gate, walk aaaaaaaall the way to the end (which is Gate 5) to reach the police clearance station.

submit a photocopy of your valid ID to window 1 (where the staff is either playing candy crush or texting) and get an application form. fill it out, submit to window 2 and finally get your 'order of payment'. when you ask where to go next, they'll point their pens to a note stuck on their cubicle which says something like "pay at city treasurer's office, behind landbank".

2. pay 100 pesos at the city treasurer's office

okay, i emphasized 'behind landbank' because apparently, IT'S NOT BEHIND LANDBANK. i've circled the city treasurer's office enough to realize that i was being led to the wrong places. okay so you have to pay at the CTO and that's the building where landbank is, but you don't have to walk to the back okay? there will be a big sign there with the words ' POLICE CLEARANCE' so get inside and pay at one of the windows. it's also the building with booths outside catering to CEDULA requests where a lot of people are usually lined up. :)

after paying and getting your receipt you will be directed back to the police clearance station for the taking of your fingerprints.

3. surrender your receipt at window 2, then have your fingerprints taken

the kuya who is taking fingerprints is usually sitting just outside the window. just show him your form and have him dirty up all of your ten fingers. for convenience, you can just buy wet wipes from that same kuya for 5 pesos, but if you're tipid pwede namang hindi. tissue and alcohol will do. hehe

4. get inside the guarded door and pay 150 pesos clearance processing

sorry di ko madescribe haha the people there will lead you anyway, but it's the door with the guard before window 1. when inside, pay 150 pesos then head further in for data encoding and biometrics. after having your picture taken and your fingerprints scanned... you'll be led outside at the waiting area.

5. let the wait begin!

in my case it didn't take 10 minutes for me to get my police clearance after step 4, considering there are probably 20-30 people already waiting outside before me. hehe the entire process was pretty fast, no long queues and all. btw i came at the city hall at around 2:30 pm already and i was expecting the process would eat up the entire afternoon but thankfully i was out at 3:30 pm! yehey!

so that was my experience. how's yours? >XD