A matter of principle

In the plots of traditional literary fiction, there are heroes or good men, as there are heels or villains. In the crafting of the story conflict, the good are rewarded, the bad punished. So poetic justice dictates…

The same principle theoretically holds sway in life. Laws are for maintenance and protection of whatever good, just, and reasonable to govern society's social engineering. It thus sounds awkward and unfair for the innocent to be punished and lumped together with the guilty.

Oddly, this situation happened when President Gloria Arroyo had a change of mind in ordering a retake of the June 2006 nursing board exams for all examinees due to leakage, ostensibly to redeem the integrity of the nursing licensure exams and to uphold the dignity of the profession. GMA excused her turn-around on alleged difficulty in ferreting out the guilty. To lessen the blame on her shoulders, GMA anchored her decision on consensus of the Cabinet.

Perhaps to lighten the sting and assuage the ruffled feelings, GMA limited the repeat coverage to Test 3 and Test 5 where the leakage was confined. She also set aside P52 million for the retaking process, obviously to spare the examinees from all expenses whatsoever.

Did this action mollify the board passers who took the tests in the nine other testing centers nationwide, that is, other than in Baguio City and Manila?

The typical bellicose reaction came from the Cebu examinees against GMA's usual fickle-mindedness cluttering her political life. On the onset of the nursing test scandal, GMA had announced that there be no retake. Of course, this was without prejudice to any sanctions against the guilty or beneficiaries to the scam upon investigation.

The Cebu passers also take exception to the untimely Malacañan action considering the pending case with the Court of Appeals over the same subject matter and cause of action. Indeed, what if the CA rule for the PRC on its decision to allow the passers to take their oaths of office?

Belatedly realizing this possible impasse, GMA just made another about face, although spokesman Ignacio Bunye insists that GMA's order stays "pending cases before the court". Bunye's addendum is eye-catching: "We will not abandon our resolve to settle this issue once and for all, under the rule of law and the public".

Mark this well… As cited by Senator Ralph Recto, the NBI "identified the anomaly to have been confined to examinees in Manila and Baguio". In short, examinees of the other nine testing centers nationwide, including Cebu City, did not benefit from any leakage.

There being no doubt that the NBI would not change or falsify its finding, why would the passers who were not parties of the leakage in Manila and Baguio City, or benefited thereby, be punished and sanctioned with a retake?

Let the establishment beware that trifling with the sensibilities of the young, as the bulk of the passers are, is a dangerous folly. The oldsters may sometimes tolerate an injustice that might not be life-threatening, but the youth who are rightly steeped in idealism are not prone to compromise their principle. They even feel insulted to liken their case to the shadowy results of the 2004 presidential elections.

One of such immutable principles is that whatever is good, just, and righteous shall prevail over the evil, unjust, and wrong. Even if GMA fattens the ante for retake with the proverbial thirty pieces of silver, the decent nursing board passers will neither sell their souls, nor compromise their principle touching on integrity and dignity.

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