|
Monday, June 26, 2006
Cover-up hunts nursing board over 'leakage'
By Rimaliza Opiña
MEMBERS of the Philippine Nursing Board (PNB) were criticized by nursing graduates and practicing nurses in Cordillera for allegedly meddling in a petition, claiming that a review center was involved in massive cheating during the June 11-12 board examinations.
A ranking official of the board was also accused of trying to "bail out" the R.A. Gapuz Review Center from the controversy when this official reportedly "asked" Mary Grace Lacanaria to "exert all efforts" and quell the filing of charges by nursing graduates who took the examinations here.
Lacanaria is the dean of the College of Nursing of the Saint Louis University (SLU) and the concurrent president of the deans of nursing schools in Cordillera.
She told reporters and affected stakeholders that she was offered with a position in the board if she was able to suppress the filing of charges against the review center and the board.
A petition filed last week at the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) based in the region, asking that members of the nursing board be placed under preventive suspension and to postpone the release of the result of this year's examinations pending the re-computation of test results.
Lacanaria said she will identify the official at the proper time and at the proper venue, and vowed not to give in to "pressure." "I will not be cowed," she said.
Lawyers representing the examinees in the administrative charge, meanwhile, rebuked the nursing board when it declared that there is "no apparent leakage" in the examination and dismissed the allegation as mere rivalry among review centers.
Cheryl Daytec-Yangot, lead counsel for the complainants, said the nursing board is not the proper body to declare the presence or absence of a leakage of test questions during the examinations.
"It's like the sinner forgiving his own sin," Yangot explained that only someone from within the board could "leak" the test questions outside their organization. She proposed the creation of an independent body to investigate the "leakage".
She added that the PRC should pursue its own investigation and not stop on the basis that no formal complaints on the supposed leakage have been formalized yet.
Kissack Gabaen, Yangot's co-counsel, said they intend to exhaust all administrative remedies first before proceeding with a judicial action.
Yangot and Gabaen were reacting to a June 20 statement of the PRC, which said that leaking out of test questions is a remote possibility.
"The examination system has been so streamlined that leakages are now a thing of the past on television, the witness hid her identity, making it impossible for the PRC to establish whether or not she was a real examinee. Unless hard evidence is found, the system is nearly full proof. With the actual test questions merely extracted by computers from a database of questions, even the examiners do not know beforehand which of their questions will be asked in the examinations," said PRC Commissioners Leonor Tripon-Rosero, Avelina dela Rea, and Renato Valdecantos.
But the petitioners' counsels and practicing nurses, headed by Aurora Tenefrancia, head nurse of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC), said the reports could not be dismissed as mere competition between and among review centers.
They said the controversy could affect the country's reputation as a leading exporter of nurses. "The government should take decisive action as this might affect employment chances of Filipino nurses overseas," said Yangot, reiterating that disregarding the reports sends a message that the country is "incapable of handling fraud."
"The entire nursing profession is being blamed. Why wait for a (formal) complaint? This practice will continue if the mastermind is not caught," Tenefrancia added.
Councilors Leandro Yangot Jr. and Edilberto Tenefrancia also filed a proposed resolution, urging the PRC to look into the reports.
Meanwhile, Gabaen urged the R.A. Gapuz to refrain from "threatening" those who spearheaded the petition. He said there is nothing libelous about the actions they have undertaken as they have documents to prove their allegations.
Gapuz's legal counsel Roderick Salazar III announced that the company is now compiling evidence to determine the truth behind the "malicious imputations".
The company also clarified that they did not leak any information to their reviewees and that the distribution of "emergency materials" eve of the examination is a practice regularly done by the center and does not necessarily constitute leaking.
Gapuz has 16 review centers nationwide, including one in Baguio where the complaint originated.
(June 26, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
