Tuesday, October 17, 2006 10 grads from Cebu may be in retakers list
NURSING examinees in Cebu had a “short-lived” celebration for their victory at the Court of Appeals (CA), which ruled on a selective retake of the leakage-tainted June licensure exams.
Labor Secretary Arturo Brion yesterday directed the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to desist from administering oaths and issuing licenses.
“I have directed the PRC to refrain from administering the oaths and issuing licenses at this time when the decision (of the appellate court) is not yet final.
The decision has not been served at this point,” said Brion, who has been given supervision of the PRC by President Arroyo following reports that this year’s nursing licensure tests had been leaked to the examinees.
Not final
Brion said his order was in effect “for as long as the decision has not reached its finality.”
The directive was also in light of the motion for reconsideration that the petitioners are planning to file on the CA decision that was released last Friday.
Brion also revealed that he sent a letter to the CA suggesting a “limited retake of the licensure examination.”
“In order to secure a quicker closure of the exam leakage problem, I have written the CA with the suggestion that a mediation and conciliation approach be taken to explore the possibility of achieving a solution acceptable to all,” Brion’s order to PRC stated.
He did not give details of his proposal just that it will provide a “win-win” solution.
Middle ground
“I have met with those who are in favor of retaking and those who are not and I could sense that there is a middle ground position that is almost all will accept and this is the limited retake,” he said.
Brion also requested the court to suspend the oath-taking and resolve who should retake the exam.
In its 33-page decision, the appellate court ordered the PRC to include 1,186 examinees that were removed from the list of board passers after the recomputation of grades following the nullification of tests 3 and 5 of the June exam.
The court said board passers in the original PRC list can take their oaths and get their nursing licenses.
It added, however, that the licenses can be revoked if investigators prove that a nursing board passer benefited from the leakage.
Brion asked PRC to submit a list of the examinees who reviewed under the Gapuz, Inress and Pentagon Review Centers in Baguio City and Manila and a list of the examinees who attended the “final coaching” of these review centers.
Tests 3 and 5 of the exams were allegedly leaked to the examinees of the review centers in Manila and Baguio during their “final coaching.”
The appellate court said that only 1,687 examinees from the 17,821 board passers will retake tests 3 and 5.
PRC 7 Acting Director Dan Malayang told Sun.Star Cebu that at least 10 Cebu-based nursing graduates who inquired at their office yesterday had a rating of 75.
There is a probability that those who have a rating of 75, especially if the rating was the recomputed one, will be among those who will have to retake the exams.
Malayang is waiting for the list of possible “retakers” as this is still with the rating division at the PRC in Manila.
At 3:45 p.m. yesterday, he received the directive from Brion not to administer the oaths and release licenses to successful examinees.
A disgruntled group of nursing graduates then attended a mass at the Redemptorist Church at 5:30 p.m. at what should have been their thanksgiving mass for the validation of their passing the licensure exam through the CA decision.
An emotional Tony Jamillarin, a parent of a nursing board passer and the chairman of the ways and means committee of Tanan (Tapok-tapok sa Nagkahiusang Nurses Batok sa Retake) told the nursing graduates who attended the mass to stay strong.
“Don’t be discouraged... this is normal. In this battle, we have won already,” Jamillarin said.
Tanan legal affairs committee chairman Lino Bautista also readied the students for possible months of battle at the CA through a motion for reconsideration and possibly a few more months if the case will be elevated to the Supreme Court.
“We were only given a weekend to be happy, now we have to prepare for another battle,” nursing board examinee Mareinne Claridad, 22, told Sun.Star Cebu.
Tanan, headed by the group’s President Chulou Penales, handed out certificates of appreciation to those who supported their cause-the deans of different nursing schools, the media and some government officials.
But of the officials, only Presidential Assistant for Central Visayas Feliz Guanzon attended the mass and program.
Other recipients were Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, and Cebu City Councilor Edgardo Labella, who is also Tanan’s lawyer.
