Non-residents may soon enroll in city’s nursing school

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council was convinced by Councilor Roberto Cabarrubias to allow the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) College of Nursing to accept students even if they are not residents of the city.

However, although the City Council already agreed in principle to the proposal, the measure was not approved yet because of some “fine tuning” that needs to be done such as for terms used like “guardians,” which according to Councilor Edgardo Labella, is no longer appropriate.

Labella said the term guardian may no longer be appropriate because the nursing students are already of legal age.

The city legislators agreed to support Cabarrubias move on the condition that the enrollees who are not Cebu City residents shall have relatives living in the city.

Action on the issue was deferred until the next deliberation on April 3.

In last Wednesday’s session, the City Council assured Cabarrubias that his recommendation will be approved once the needed refinements are done.

CCMC’s records show that the number of enrollees from 2005 to 2012 significantly dropped from 467 to a mere 191, but Mayor Michael Rama said the city should not look at the revenue aspect of the nursing school.

“Pareho ra ba nga magpa-eskwela ta og atong anak, magkwenta ba gud ta kon pila na ang atong nagasto?” the mayor said. (It’s like when we parents send our children to school, we won’t mind the expenses.) — (FREEMAN)