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Saturday, September 30, 2006
Palace puts off nursing exams retake
MANILA -- Malacañang on Friday said it is deferring action on a retake of the leakage-marred nursing board exams held last June in order to wait for the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) on the case regarding the oath taking of those who passed the test.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Labor Secretary Arturo Brion was reminded by the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) of the pending case before the CA, which could bear on the decision to have the examinees retake the examinations.
"We cannot make final action as to the extent of the retake because titingnan natin (we will see) how the CA decision will bear on such decision"? Ermita said.
He said details such as who should retake the exams, whether it should only be for those who passed the exams, would be affected by the court decision.
However, he reiterated that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has already made a "decision in principle," which is to have all examinees retake the exams in order to restore the integrity of the nursing profession.
He said the Palace expects the CA to hand down its decision before the next regular board exams in December.
The case was filed by the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) College of Nursing to stop the oath taking of those who have already passed the exams.
Ermita said the government will fork out P52 million to subsidize the examinations. "We will not let them pay exam fees anymore. The President ordered that we take care of the funds," he said.
President Arroyo told a handful of students late Thursday afternoon that all of those who passed the exams would have to do the retake and that it would only cover Tests 3 and 5, which are the subject of the leakage. She also said those who failed have the option to either do the retake or take the next examinations in December.
Meanwhile, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) on Friday endorsed Malacañang's move to fund a retake by nursing graduates of the leakage-marred licensure examinations held last June.
"We could ask the National Government to subsidize the retake of the 2006 nursing board exam but as of now I cannot really commit because I am not in a position to say that because of the pending petition filed in the Court of Appeals," said Secretary Brion.
He said a meeting scheduled last Thursday between him and PRC executives to discuss the retake was cancelled due to typhoon Milenyo when it lashed Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
"We only have two concerns that needed to be discussed and it include the nursing exam leakage and how to maintain the integrity of the licensure exams (being administered by the PRC)," Brion said.
Brion clarified that while the PRC was put under the Dole's supervision, it doesn't mean that they will control the operations of PRC.
"In the EO (executive order) the instruction there is for Dole to provide general direction and coordination with PRC, meaning we will only provide guidance and monitor the operations for the Office of the President but not to control them," Brion said.
The UST College of Nursing, the League of Concerned Nurses and the Binuklod na Samahan ng mga Student Nurses last month filed a petition seeking a retake of the June 2006 licensure examinations as they questioned the actions taken by the PRC to cleanse the examination of leaked test questions. The CA then issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) stopping the oath taking of passing examinees.
The PRC, since the start of the controversy, refused to allow a retake of the nursing examinations because they are convinced that, only 3,000 examinees might have had access to the leaked test questions out of the 17,000 examinees who took the exam. (JMR/MSN/Sunnex)
(September 30, 2006 issue)
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