Gov’t in a bind on nursing exam

The government is now in a bind following the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) on the leakage-tainted nursing board examination last June, according to Labor Secretary Arturo Brion and other officials.

Malacañang was considering determining who benefited from the leaked test questions and ordering them to retake the tests.

But because of the appellate court’s decision allowing most of those who passed the examination to be sworn in as new nurses, Brion said the government now has no choice but to only go after those suspected of involvement in the leakage.

Brion, a former CA justice, frowned on the decision and lamented that it did not address the leakage itself, saying examinees who benefited from it may go on to become nurses.

Malacañang can no longer decide who should retake the tainted tests because the court ruling put all parties under the CA’s jurisdiction.

"The executive can only act on Resolution 31 (of the Professional Regulation Commission’s board of nursing) while the case is pending before the CA. But now that CA has ruled, the executive department can no longer take any action on this matter," said Brion, who was tasked by President Arroyo to study the issue and come up with a recommendation.

The CA ruled that almost all of the over 17,000 examinees who passed the licensure exams may take their oaths as nurses because none of them appeared to have benefited from the leakage, citing findings of the PRC"s board of nursing.

The ruling came almost two months after a restraining order from the tribunal stopped the oath-taking following a petition seeking a retaking of the two tests in the five-part examination from which questions were leaked to at least three review centers.

The court reversed a nursing board resolution issued in August, in which it was decided to exclude scores from the two leaked tests and recompute the overall scores.

As a result of the recomputation, over 1,600 examinees who failed passed and almost 1,200 who passed failed.

The court said the PRC and the nursing board committed "grave abuse of discretion" for coming up with resolution despite their own findings that indicated that the leakage was not widespread and hardly anyone benefited from it.

"In an attempt to flush out the poison brought about by the leakage, the respondents treated all the examinees as if they all profited from the leakage. This should never be countenanced," the CA’s ruling stated.

It ordered that the 1,600 who had initially failed should retake the two tainted parts of the licensure exam and the 1,200 examinees who flunked because of the recomputation be among those to be sworn in as nurses.

Brion said that left the government with the only recourse but to go after the 17 individuals suspected of involvement based on an NBI investigation.

"We have to go back to the NBI and find out who attended the final coaching of these review centers. That is the step we can take following this decision," Brion said in an interview with Vice President Noli de Castro over radio station dzMM.

"We are now bound by the decision and the only ones who can act now are the parties involved. Those who feel aggrieved by the decision can file a motion for reconsideration," Brion said.

Brion said the parties could file a motion for reconsideration before the CA and even go up to the Supreme Court.

Once appeals were filed, Brion said the CA decision could not be enforced and thus prolonging the resolution of the issue further.

Brion said the oath taking and grant of license to the board passers could only push through if the CA would allow them pending resolution of the appeals.

No closure

Brion could not see any immediate closure of the case despite the CA decision but he said the government and the parties could move on and do whatever should be done to preserve the integrity of the nursing profession.

"Based on what I read from the decision, Resolution No. 31 was nullified because it seemed the leakage did not have any effect. Even if the CA invalidated the resolution, it gave credence to the claim that the leakage did not have any effects on the examinees," Brion said.

In its Resolution No. 31 issued in August, the nursing board said there were no indications that the leakage was widespread and was not of much use to the examinees.

It said the leaked questions were simply too many and were given only two days before the examination day to nursing graduates who were most likely already overloaded from reviewing.

"That’s why the leakage issue was not very much addressed," Brion said.

He said those who passed because of the recomputation would now have to retake tests 3 and 5 of the five-part licensure examinations and not the ones who attended the three nursing review centers that possibly utilized the leaked questions.

"Now the ones who got away scot-free with this were the review centers because the decision said after the PRC had issued the licenses, the PRC could still invalidate them once they were found to have attended the final coaching of the review centers (that secured the leaked questions)," Brion said.

He said this provision in the court decision must be pursued and the PRC must be asked to revoke the licenses of those who attended the three review centers charged — Gapuz Review Center, Inress Review Center Inc. and Pentagon Specialists Inc.

"The decision was effectively a no retake except for the 1,687 who did not pass in the original computation," he said. "Those who failed because of the recomputation would now have to be considered passed according to the decision. So those who passed before based on the original computation would already be given their licenses regardless of which review centers they registered in."

Brion said the government would just have to wait and see the next developments especially if the parties would make an appeal.

"Until all parties accept the CA decision, we will not have a closure," Brion said. "If everyone accepts it, then that’s it. It might take long (to have a final resolution) because only the courts can decide. The PRC cannot take any action without a final court ruling."

Brion said it would be best to await a final ruling of the court before an oath-taking and grant of license should be made to avoid further complications should a modification or reversal of the ruling happen.

"But for the administration, wherever we are right now, let’s move on," Brion said.

Move on

Brion said the board of nursing must be reconstituted soon as the members resigned after the leakage controversy broke out, pointing out that the next licensure exam is set for early December.

Cases against the examiners who were the alleged source of the leakage must also be monitored closely at the Office of the Ombudsman. "That is what we should do next," he said.

Reforms in the nursing profession must continue because other countries are capitalizing on the scandal to compete with the Filipino nurses in getting the better employment abroad.

"Yesterday I spoke with the president of the Philippine Nursing Association in the United Kingdom who said they were trying to keep away the scandal from the UK press to a month. But after three months it erupted and Indians and other nations were capitalizing on this," Brion said.

"There is no licensing in countries like UK but once they develop a doubt, they can ask for more requirements before Filipino nurses are accepted for the jobs there."

Brion said it was imperative that the scandal be resolved quickly so the country can move on.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye gave assurances that those involved would not escape punishment.

But it will not end there. "We shall continue to undertake all measures to make sure this unfortunate incident is not repeated," Bunye said.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita welcomed the CA decision since Malacañang was in favor of a selective retaking.

Mrs. Arroyo was earlier against requiring all those who passed the June licensure examination to retake the two leaked tests, saying it would be unfair to those who did not cheat.

Ermita said the Palace would now await formal recommendation from Brion as to what should be done now because of the CA decision.

Brion was supposed to submit a draft of an administrative order yesterday calling for a retaking by examinees who possibly benefited from the leakage.

Mrs. Arroyo had to give way to further study of the issue because of the concerns of the examinees and their families, which the President should be sensitive to as well, he said.

Ermita said while the CA decision allowed the oath-taking of the passers, those who attended the three review centers were still not totally free from the possibility of having their licenses revoked.

"So we will see what is going to happen next," Ermita said, adding that the government would come up with its final position by next week.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who chairs the Senate committee on civil service, believes that the appellate court made the right decision. "The innocent should not be involved but the full force of the law should be applied to those who committed wrongdoing." — With Sheila Crisostomo, Marvin Sy, Jose Rodel Clapano