Protests greet order to retake nursing exam

Inquirer
Last updated 01:12am (Mla time) 09/29/2006

Published on Page A1 of the September 29, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

A WAVE of protest yesterday greeted Malacañang’s announcement that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had ordered a retake of the controversial nursing board examination in June.

In Dagupan City, topnotcher Gringo San Diego expressed dismay at Ms Arroyo’s order but said he was willing to retake the two-day exam that was marred by the purported leak of test questions.

“So be it. There is nothing we can do but abide by whatever the authorities decide,” San Diego, a graduate of the University of Pangasinan, told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

But he lamented that those behind the leak had gone unpunished, and said it was “frustrating” that the examinees were “taking the brunt of [the effect of] the misconduct of those responsible.”

“It was really a big waste that the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) released the results of the examination. We would not have been confused and frustrated [had it not done so],” he said.

Of the 42,000 students who took the June exam, more than 17,000 passed.

In Western Visayas, 16 of the 19 nursing schools are protesting Ms Arroyo’s order, said Dr. Maria Luisa Parreñas, dean of Riverside College and president of the Association of Deans of the Philippine Colleges of Nursing (Western Visayas chapter).

“We are not amenable to a retake because our students were not involved in the reported cheating and it is unfair for them to have to retake the examination again,” Parreñas said.

She said each student would need about P40,000 to review and to pay the retake fees.
All the deans of the nursing schools in Western Visayas are preparing to come up with a collective position on the matter, Parreñas said.

Western Visayas covers the provinces of Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Antique, Aklan, Capiz and Guimaras.

Belated but welcome

In Baguio City, however, the group that exposed the leak of test questions welcomed Ms Arroyo’s order for a retake.

Two nursing school deans, several members of the Philippine Nurses Association and 92 licensing applicants had filed the first complaint before the PRC, saying the R.A. Gapuz Review Center had circulated an 18-page test leak to its clients a day before the exam.

The group said Ms Arroyo’s decision was “a belated but welcome development” considering “the indecisiveness with which the government handled the leakage issue.”

It said the decision was a clear response to its complaints.

In Manila, Dr. Fe Marilyn Lorenzo, head of the University of the Philippines-Manila Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies, said she and her colleagues in health education were “happy” with the President’s decision although it should have been made sooner.

“It would have been nicer if the Palace was more decisive. While belated, it is a welcome development,” Lorenzo told the Inquirer by phone.

She said she and her colleagues would speak with officials of other nursing schools to explain the situation and ask them to “open their gates for a review.”

Lorenzo also called on members of the PRC to resign.

“Officials of the PRC should humbly bow out now voluntarily. The Palace decision has shown they have mishandled the case. They should have had a more enduring vision of the impact of their decisions. If this was Japan, they would have committed seppuku (ritual suicide),” she said.

Final order

Malacañang sought the cooperation of all concerned, saying the President’s order for a retake of the licensure exam was “final” and in the national interest.

“Her only wish is to uphold the integrity of the Philippine nursing profession, which is known to be one of the best in the world,” Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.

“The nursing profession is not only a shining symbol of the Filipino culture of caring, but [also] our source of pride and dignity in the international community,” he said.

Bunye appealed to the parties concerned to “focus on a credible and untainted retake of the exam.”

“Let us also ensure that this unfortunate incident is never repeated,” he said. “The fortunes of thousands of nurses are at stake, and we must not let them down.”

Petitions in peril

But the timing of Ms Arroyo’s order imperils a series of petitions filed before the Court of Appeals seeking to block the licensing of the successful examinees, said Cheryl Daytec-Yangot, lawyer for the petitioners.

Yangot said the retake order could nullify the group’s Sept. 20 petition for the appellate court to hold the PRC liable for a whitewash.

The petitioners included some of the original whistle-blowers, including 27 who failed the exam.

They asked the court to investigate the PRC for “unequivocally dismissing allegations of leakage even if it was in possession of overwhelming evidence” that cheating had occurred in the exam.

The petitioners said the PRC “prematurely released” the exam result even while the investigation of the leakage was in progress.

In a statement, Yangot and fellow lawyers George Andawi and Domingo Añonuevo said the retake order might have rendered “moot and academic” the petitioners’ prayer for the re-administration of Test III and Test V.

“We will not relent in our determination to establish that the PRC-BON [Board of Nursing] acted with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction. We will pursue the case to the finish,” the lawyers said.

Political angle

A group of nursing students called the Alliance of New Nurses (ANN) said it saw a “political” angle in the retake order.

In an interview, ANN spokesperson Renato Aquino said the group was “shocked” by the decision given the President’s purported support of the “no retake” position last month.

“Why the sudden turnaround? They [Malacañang] did not consult the PRC and the board passers. Some of the passers have already left for abroad to work or migrate,” he said.

Aquino said the ANN had heard reports that Dante Ang, chair of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas that was negotiating to bring the US National Council Licensure Examinations (NCLEX) into the country, had convinced Labor Secretary Arturo Brion and Education Secretary Jesli Lapus to call for the retake.

Passing the NCLEX will allow Filipino nurses to practice their profession in specific areas in the United States.

“He [Ang] is using the leakage issue as a scapegoat for failing to bring in the NCLEX this year.

He is trying to buy more time. But the leakage is not the reason why the NCLEX deal failed to push through; [the reason] was the peace and order situation in the country,” Aquino said.

‘Most unfair’

Ang, who is said to have Ms Arroyo’s ear, denied having pressured other Cabinet members to back a retake.

Aquino’s accusation “is most unfair,” Ang told the Inquirer. “The issue was extensively debated in the Cabinet, and all angles, issues and concerns were discussed. The President heard all sides and her decision was made objectively.”

He also said he had invited officials of the US National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) to the country to try to convince them to administer the NCLEX here.

He said his commission was “grilled” by the NCSBN officials about peace and order and the integrity of the Philippine nursing licensure system.

Ang said: “We assured them that we can handle the peace and order situation and that we can vouch for the integrity of our board exams. I think they were convinced. If this controversy never happened, we would have already been administering the NCLEX here. The alleged leakage is an important issue for them, and with the President’s announcement, we are showing we are addressing that.”

He also said not one Cabinet member was opposed to Ms Arroyo’s stand.

On merit

But Dean Parreñas said the position of the Western Visayas nursing schools against a retake was shared by their counterparts in other provinces.

In the region, 2,424 students took the exam and 1,256 passed, according to PRC Regional Director Lily Ann Baldago.

Dr. Antonio Lim, dean of the St. Scholastica’s College of Health and Sciences in Tacloban City, said the 63 students of the school who passed the exam did so on sheer “merit.”

Student Margaret Leslie Bandoy made the No. 10 spot with an 80.41 grade.

“It is unfair. If they want to have another examination, we should not be included. Our students passed in an honest-to-goodness way,” Lim said.

Norma Tupaz, officer in charge of PRC-Eastern Visayas, also said a retake would be unfair to the students.

“They have suffered much already as they have yet to secure their licenses,” Tupaz said. “I think if that order of the President has to be followed, only the areas where cheating was identified to have happened should [be covered].

In Cebu, the current cry is: “Exclude Cebu nurses from the retake!”

Cebu City Councilor Edgardo Labella, who acts as counsel for a group of board passers in the city called Tanan, or Tapok-tapok sa Nagkahiusang Nurses Batok sa Retake, said it was drafting a letter asking the President to allow its exclusion from the retake.

Around 1,723 passers in Cebu have joined the group, Labella said.

‘If only...’

In the House of Representatives, Deputy Minority Floor Leader Gilbert Remulla said that “in this rare instance,” Ms Arroyo “showed that cheating should not be condoned.”

“If only she treated elections the same way,” Remulla said, alluding to the purported fraud in the 2004 presidential election.

Remulla said he was in favor of a retake for Tests III and V.

He said the purported cheating affected not only the 42,000 students who took the exam but also the Philippine nursing community.

Reports from Yolanda Sotelo-Fuertes and Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon; Carla P. Gomez, Joey A. Gabieta and Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas; Alcuin Papa, Christine O. Avendaño and Michael Lim Ubac in Manila