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Friday, August 18, 2006
Despite controversy, 1.2T nurses take oath
Leakage controversies did not stop more than 1,200 nurses from taking their oaths at 3 p.m. yesterday.
The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) 7 held an unscheduled oath-taking after receiving memorandum order 2006-06 last Wednesday afternoon.
Acting PRC 7 Director Dan Malayang also said he received a text message from PRC Chairperson Leonor Rosero past 5 p.m. Wednesday authorizing the oath-taking starting yesterday.
The speedy oath-taking was seen as a way to dodge any legal move, such as a temporary restraining order, planned against it.
Malayang, though, refused to comment on the issue but said he carried out the ceremony because of the memorandum.
Dean Marco Antonio Sto. Tomas, vice president of the Association of Deans of Philippine Colleges of Nursing, described the PRC’s move as incomprehensible. He also pointed out PRC’s earlier decisions to release the results of the exams and to allow a voluntary re-take despite allegations of a leak in the nursing exam given last June.
The Senate is looking into the alleged leakage.
In Central Visayas, 1,723 nursing graduates out of 3,305 examinees passed the board exam last July 11 and 12.
Close to 70 percent of those who passed the exam took oath after they were told about the ceremony through text messaging.
Malayang said that after he received the text message from Rosero, he immediately sent it to PRC personnel to inform the board passers.
The oath-taking rites took only less than five minutes.
Hooting followed after Malayang asked the nurses to stand but the loudest applause came after the oath.
The oath allows the nurses to be registered and to receive their licenses.
But more importantly, it is a step closer to their American dream.
Twenty-year-old Vanessa Guinita wants to work first “for experience and then take the exams to be eligible to work abroad.”
“We deserve this (to finally take the oath). We passed the board fairly, we took it in good faith, and there was no cheating,” Lowenda Broce, 27, said.
“The delay was quite unfair considering our sacrifices and struggles to get here,” she added.
Malayang agreed. He too believes that it was unfair that the nurses’ integrity was questioned on the basis of a reported leakage on the board exams.
“Their competency was already measured in day one when they took up nursing,” he said.
“Give them a chance to prove themselves. Anyway, the question of competency can still be addressed when they take the state board and other exams,” Malayang said. (JGA)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 18, 2006 issue)
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