Nurses Petition GMA to Intervene in Nursing Board Leakage
Nurses and examinees who filed the
complaint about the Nursing board exams leakage are gathering signatures
to petition President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to create an independent
fact-finding body.
BY ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
BAGUIO CITY - As the
Professional Regulatory Commission failed to create an independent body
that would investigate the June nursing board leakage, the professional
nurses and the examinees who filed the complaint to the PRC for the
investigation are now gathering signatures for a petition requesting
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to create an independent body to
investigate the leakage.
In a press conference
here on August 3, Dean Ruth Tingda, governor of the Philippine Nursing
Association (PNA) in Cordillera region, along with officers of the
Cordillera and Baguio City chapters, said they had gathered thousands of
signatures for the petition.
“It is our view that
the only way we can reverse the effects of the leakage is for your
administration to demonstrate unequivocally that it does not condone the
anomaly. We are firmly convinced that the creation of a fact-finding body
is a necessary step in that direction,” states the petition signed by
Tingda and Dr. Mary Grace Lacanaria, dean of the College of Nursing of the
Saint Louis University and president of the Association of Deans of the
Philippine Nursing Colleges in the Cordillera.
They also asked in
the petition the suspension of the commissioners of the PRC and liable
members of the Board of Nursing while the investigation is pending.
Allegedly two members
of the BON were involved in the leakage.
Tingda and Lacanaria
claimed that the commissioners and BOB members are all appointees of the
President.
No leakage
Leakage materials on
Sets III and V of the June 11 -12 nursing board exam were distributed by
the Gapuz Review Center to its reviewees in this city and there were later
leakages in Metro Manila for at least 200 questions. This prompted 92
examinees in Baguio, joined later by more than 400 professional nurses, to
file a complaint on June 21 to the PRC seeking the creation of an
independent body and to investigate those involved in the leakage.
However, the
complainants said the PRC failed to respond. The PRC instead created its
own investigating body and issued statements that tend to say there was no
leakage.
“The PRC failed to
create the independent body that would clear all this mess,” claimed the
complainants. They also hit the PRC for releasing the results without
first determining the extent of the scam. Only 42% passed the board exam
out of the 43,000 examinees.
Arroyo policy
The complainants
gained broad support and attended congressional inquiry in relation with
the leakage scam.
On August 1,
Congressman Marcelino Libanan delivered a privilege speech urging the
investigation of the scam. The controversy is “wreaking havoc to the
integrity and credibility of the entire certification or licensure system
of the country,” said Libanan in his speech.
That same day,
Gabriela Party List Representative Liza Maza filed House Resolution 1323
calling for an investigation of the scam. In the Senate, Sen. Richard
Gordon and Sen. Biazon also filed separate resolutions for an
investigation.
Meanwhile, the nurses
say their petition to the president will test whether the Arroyo
administration’s policy is to allow nurses abroad for revenues, forsaking
an investigation which could tarnish the image of the Philippines abroad.
Northern Dispatch/Posted by Bulatlat
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