NBI behind U.S., Asian counterparts

NBI behind U.S., Asian counterparts

MANILA (AFP): The Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) lags behind its U.S. and Asian counterparts by 20 years due to low salaries, aging agents and lack of funding, an NBI official said yesterday.

The NBI, the country's elite investigative agency patterned after the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has 250 agents but 40 percent of them are aged 50 and above, said NBI assistant director Antonio Aragon.

He estimated 100 million pesos (US$3.8 million) would be needed to modernize and upgrade the NBI.

A prospective agent needs a law or an accounting degree, but most graduates do not opt for a career that only pays 6,000 pesos a month ($230), less than what secretaries receive in large corporations.