DOJ to NBI: Find examinees who gained from nurse test leaks

First posted 06:24pm (Mla time)
Oct 14, 2006
By Armand Nocum
Inquirer

JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez has ordered the NBI to start unmasking nursing examinees who benefited from the test question leakage even as he said the President is not likely to order a national retake out of respect for the Court of Appeals’ decision.

In a telephone interview with the Inquirer, Gonzalez said that in places where it would be hard to prove how many nursing examinees benefited from the leakage -- such as what allegedly happened in Baguio -- then the whole area may be subjected to a retake Tests III and V, the subjects covered by the alleged leak of test questions and answers.

"I don't think the President will defy the CA decision now because the President has always been observing the court's decisions; even if it is a bitter pill for her to take, she accepts it,'' Gonzalez said.

According to him, the President only proposed the national retake because some Cabinet men had warned her about the effects of the leakage on Filipino professionals abroad and because of reports that the leakage had reached the Visayas and Mindanao.

"Now that the report of the nationwide leakage has been debunked by the National Bureau of Investigation, I'm sure the President will decide on the basis of the NBI report. The President always relies on the NBI report,'' he said.

Gonzalez said it was now up to the NBI and the Philippine Regulation Commission to already start implementing the CA order.

In its ruling on Friday, the court said all nurses who passed the June licensure exam should be allowed to take their oaths and be professional licenses. However it required 1,687 nurses -- those who initially got failing grades but were given passing marks after the PRC recomputed examination results ostensibly to discount the effect of leaked test questions and answers -- to retake Tests III and V.

It restored to the roster of passers 1,186 examinees who had initially passed the exams but ended up with failing grades as a result of the re-computation.

The court also ruled that examinees who actually benefited from the leakage should also be made to retake the tests but left it to the executive department to identify them and apply the appropriate sanctions.

To implement the CA's decision, Gonzalez said he has ordered the NBI to get the list of examinees who took review courses at three review centers that the authorities had earlier identified as the ones who received the leaked material -- R.A. Gapuz Review Center, Inress Review Center, and Pentagon Review Specialist Inc. -- and those who attended the final coaching sessions where the leaked materials were supposedly distributed.

"That is what should be done now. We should already implement the CA decision,'' he said.

"Once we identify these examinees -- whether they passed or failed -- they should retake. They must retake, that is the order of the CA. If they reviewed there, they should retake because the presumption is they cheated.''

According to him, the NBI will subpoena the list of those who took the final coaching sessions in the three review centers. He said there is a list because those who attended the final review paid for their attendance.

As for Baguio, he said there might be a retake for all of the examinees and those found to have distributed leaked materials will criminally charged.