Labor chief faces exam raps

A group of new nurses is preparing to file "nationwide" damage suits against Labor Secretary Arturo Brion and other personalities who they said blocked their oath-taking despite getting a favorable ruling from the Court of Appeals.

"We are coordinating with parents from Tuguegarao to Zamboanga City for the filing of damage suits in their respective localities," Renato Aquino, president of the Alliance of New Nurses (ANN), told the weekly Kapihan sa Sulo Hotel in Quezon City yesterday.

He said they are also considering including in the damage suit Commission on Filipinos Overseas chairman Dante Ang and others who filed a petition with the appellate court seeking a retake of the board exams by all examinees.

The CA recently issued a ruling allowing some board passers to take their oaths, except for 1,687 who were perceived to have benefited from the leakage of answers to exam questions.

Lawyer Rene Saguisag, who is assisting the nurses in the preparation of the case, said they have no other option but to seek damages before the court for Brion’s alleged "arbitrary and cruel manner" in handling last June’s nursing exam controversy.

Saguisag said that because of high filing fees he is suggesting that each file a one-peso damage suit to dramatize their plight.

Saguisag, who was at the forum, said he is also asking Brion to place a P 100-million bond for the issuance of an order that stopped those who passed the leakage-tainted exams from taking their oath last week.

According to Saguisag, the order "has practically put an injunction on the oath-taking of the new nurses," and that the bond would cover the damages incurred from its issuance.

Board passers who gathered last Monday for their oathtaking were disappointed when they were told that they couldn’t be sworn in.

Professional Regulation Commission chairman Rosero has said they decided to call off the oathtaking because they wanted to consult first with the Office of the Solicitor General on how to deal with the CA decision.

In a letter, Brion told Rosero that "any hasty and controversial move, such as the implementation of the Court of Appeals decision prior to its finality will only complicate matters and serve as stumbling block to an early resolution and closure.’’ He stressed the CA ruling is not yet final.

Saguisag said the PRC should administer the oathtaking as it is the legal effect of the CA ’s lifting of the temporary restraining order on this which was issued at the height of the controversy.

But because of "conflicting voices" from top Malacañang officials and issuance of the order preventing the oathtaking, Saguisag said, the CA ruling has been set aside.

"They (Malacañanag officials) are giving false hope, they are toying around with the emotions of the people," he lamented.

Saguisag said they have already filed contempt charges against Brion for defying the CA ruling.

He noted that a P 100-million bond would ensure that those who were unjustly deprived of their rights would be compensated aside from the damage suits that the parents and the board passes would file.

Despite Malacañang’s position for a retake, Rosero has insisted that there should be no retake of the examination since the leakage did not affect the overall results of the licensure tests after PRC recomputed Test III and V, where some questions were leaked.

In its ruling, the CA had decided to invalidate the recomputation implemented by the PRC to cleanse the test of the leakage.

The court also upheld the original grade of more than 1,200 examinees who initially passed the test, but failed after the recomputation. — Perseus Echeminada