(GMA News) Senator Joel Villanueva called a Philippine National Police (PNP) proposal that would require workers to first present a police clearance when transacting with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) “harebrained” and an “added burden to workers.”

Villanueva, chair of the Senate labor committee, said in a Saturday statement that the PNP proposal was not only incredulous but ran counter to President Rodrigo Duterte’s instruction to government offices to cut red tape.

“What the President has ordered and what the people want is less red tape and not more of it. What the PNP is proposing goes against this,” Villanueva said.

PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas had proposed the requirement in a letter to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello.

Villanueva also saw no sense in requiring a jobless OFW, who was only seeking financial help from the DOLE, to make a detour to a police station.

“{DOLE offices are] not an apprehension place for the police where they can set up a dragnet for people who have unfinished business with authorities,” the senator pointed out.