Engineering board examinees protest PRC’s retake order

A group of examinees for the civil engineering board exams last November 17 and 18 gathered outside the Professional Regulations Commission regional office to protest the recent directive for a retake of the exams because of perceived cheating.

“The order of the PRC to have a retake of the exam has no factual and legal basis. And this is to consider that we have a pending petition with the PRC to reconsider (its retake order),” said Jobert Pahilga, lawyer of the group called Civil Engineering Against Retake Students’ Union (CE Agression).

CE Agression was supposed to ask the court last January 3 for a temporary restraining order against the retake order but then when the PRC informed the group that a resolution on the group’s petition would be released before Saturday last week, the group decided to defer the filing of the case.

The resolution however did not come, and PRC regional director Dan Malayang said his office is still waiting for it from the central office. “We are also looking for possible remedies,” he said.

While the wait went on, around 300 examinees in Cebu boycotted the scheduled retake last January 12, and the group marched from the Cebu Normal University area to the Southern Islands Hospital where they lingered to gather sympathy from the public.

Yesterday, the CE Agression decided to go to the PRC to push further their protest, and complaint against what they called as the incapability of the PRC to its task.

In an interview with The Freeman, Engr. Perfecto Padilla of the Padilla Review Center, said the retake examination was very unfair to those who took the test fairly and honestly.

“Nang dahil lang sa daya-an sa Cagayan de Oro damay na lahat ng nag-take ng exam; to think hindi naman iyon matatawag na massive cheating dahil isa lang naman ang napatunayang nangdaya gamit yong dala niyang cellphone.” Padilla said.

Padilla added that it was also the mistake of the PRC why such incident happened, “kasi di sila ganun ka tight sa security during the exam, that’s why nakalusot yung taong yon.”

Sanlakas Youth coordinator Aaron Pedrosa Jr. also sympathized with the examinees. He said that his group will join CE Agression in seeking for justice against the PRC decision. He said it is the PRC that should be punished and not the examinees. —  Phoebe Jen Indino/RAE