3 Baguio City nursing leaders decline BON nominations

BAGUIO CITY — Three nursing leaders here have declined nominations to the Board of Nursing (BON), insisting that such a move would not solve the controversy on the leakage in the last nursing board examinations and the ailing healthcare system in general.

The three are Ruth Thelma Tingda, governor of the Philippine Nursing Association (PNA) for the Cordilleras and Region 1 and dean of the College of Nursing of Easter College; Grace Lacanaria, president of the Cordillera Association of Deans of Nursing Schools in the Philippines and dean of the College of Nursing of Saint Louis University; and Dr. Erlinda Palaganas, of the University of the Philippines Baguio and PNA adviser.

All three claimed that their accepting the nominations would only weaken their fight against the leakage scam and muddle their demand for the resignation of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) commissioners and the BON members.

Tingda, Lacanaria and Palaganas were among the 33 people nominated by PRC chairwoman Leonor Tripon-Rosero to President Arroyo.

The President will pick the final seven members of the BON since two of its members, who were implicated in the scam, had resigned.

Incidentally, the three Baguio nursing leaders were among those who asked the PRC to investigate the scam last June.

Palaganas said their nominations were somewhat suspicious since they were actually the ones calling for the resignation of the PRC commissioners and BON members.

She claimed that the PRC nominated them because of insinuations that they were after BON seats.

For her part, Tingda said, "What is the PRC up to? So that they can say that we are (fighting) the board scam because we want (BON) positions?"

"I rejected the nomination because I am not and has never been interested to be (a BON member). Moreover, the nomination is insulting. Many of us whose names are in the list of nominees are petitioners," she added.

Palaganas and Tingda both said they are more interested in their campaign for reforms.

Besides, Palaganas said the nominations failed to follow the PNA’s regular process.

Nominations to the BON, according to her, are coursed through the PNA screening committee, which interviews the nominees, after which the PNA president forwards the results to Malacañang.