'Fair' decision welcomed

Cebu board passers plan thanksgiving Mass

First posted 08:38am (Mla time)
Oct 15, 2006
By Jhunnex Napallacan
Cebu Daily News

NURSING students in Cebu who passed the board rejoiced yesterday over the ruling of the Court of Appeals, which isolated the effect of a test leakage by ordering a partial retake by 1,687 examinees nationwide instead of a wholesale repeat.

On Monday, a thanksgiving Mass and program will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the Redemptorist Church in Cebu City. All participants were encouraged to wear white.

After four months of anxiety, they are relieved to know they will be getting their licenses in the end, said Chulou Penales, 10th placer of the Nursing Licensure Examination and president of the newly formed Tanan (Tapoktapok sa Nagkahiusang Nurses Batok sa Retake).

He said their parents even looked happier than the board passers with the CA decision.

“Upat gud mi ka buwan nga walay katulog tungod niini (For four months, we lost sleep over this),” he said.

A number, however, are still worried about the CA’s nullification of the re-computation of scores which would require 1,687 examinees to retake two of the tests: Test III on medical and surgical nursing and Test V on neuro-psychiatric nursing.

The borderline passers, those who scored slightly below or above the passing grade of 75 percent, are the ones worried.

Councilor Edgardo Labella, who helped write the Cebu lobby group’s petition to exempt Cebu from any planned retake, said that if any Cebu board passer was affected not more than 50 individuals would be involved.

Labella said he would advise these aspiring nurses to undergo the retake.

“Kon duna may maapiktuhan dinhi, I doubt it could reach more than 50 examinees”, he said.

Labella welcomed the CA decision as “fair” because it did not order all the more than 40,000 examinees nationwide to repeat the board exams.

Penales, meantime, said they are still checking how many of the board passers in Cebu would be made to retake the exams.

“Nalipay gyud mi og maayo sa decision sa Court of Appeals because mao ni pinaka-justifiable nga decision nga di gyud laboton ang inosente”, Penales said. (We’re very happy with the CA ruling because it justifies our stand not to allow the innocent to be punished.)

The actual passing grade for nurses is 75.

Penales said those who got a borderline rating of 75 percent to 76 percent could be affected as among the additional 1.1 percent of examinees whose names were added by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to the original list of 17,000 passers. The Court of Apppeals nullified the order of the PRC which earlier tried to recompute the test scores to correct the leakage.

Penales said he knew a few of those who got this rating, who were very worried about what would happen next.

“So far, di pa gyud ko mahibawo kinsay maapiktuhan pero duna na ko’y nahibaw-an nga 75 flat ang ilang grado. Kon kuhaan na og 1.1 percent, mahagbong gyud”, Penales said.

There were 1,723 board passers in Cebu, according to Penales.

Penales said the group Tanan could give moral and financial help to colleagues who have to retake the two specified tests.

A board review would cost P10,000 to P15,000 excluding expenses for board and lodging for those who are not from Cebu. Some students also rent space at a study center, which costs P20 to P30 per hour. All in all, Penales said it would cost a student P20,000 to P30,000 to prepare for and retake the tests.

PRC Region 7 acting director Dan Malayang said he also believed that some board passers in Cebu would be affected but only the PRC office in Manila could release the names.

Malayang confirmed that because of the recomputation of the scores, some examinees who got a 73 percent or 74 percent rating, were given additional points in order to reach the 75 rating.

He clarified that passers with an original rating of 75 would not have to repeat the tests.

Despite the cheating scandal, Penales said board passers in Cebu have not experienced discrimination in the places they have applied for jobs.

He said some students in Cebu are already working in hospitals and call centers.

“Wala man gyuy discrimination dinhi, so far, sa akong na-estorya gi-welcome gyud sila sa ilang mga employer, mismo ang ilang mga employer maoy naglagot niining controversy”, Penales said.