Final closure to the leak

For the sake of the nursing profession and of the thousands of our young men and women who dream of a better tomorrow by taking up this course with an eye on getting well paying jobs abroad, let the Court of Appeals (CA) decision on the nursing exam scandal put a final closure to this sad episode. The leakage itself has already caused a lot of damage to the good reputation built up by Filipino nurses through the years. Such leakage surely has, and will continue to have an adverse effect on the demand for Filipino nurses abroad who are undoubtedly among the country’s top dollar earners. It should have been resolved swiftly, decisively and justly but quietly. Instead however our young hopefuls whose families have already sacrificed a lot, were subjected to so much anxieties and uncertainties by the public bickering among the officials, the usual inconclusive investigations with incomplete findings that are being leaked to the press, the uncoordinated moves of the different government agencies involved, the unnecessary court litigation and worse of all, the flip flopping at Malacañang where the buck should have stopped.

Initially countries in great need of our nurses would just have shrugged off that leakage as part and parcel of bureaucratic shortcomings and defects that happens everywhere. But because of the prolonged public controversy generated, these countries must really be having second thoughts now about still hiring our nurses. Indeed the CA directives in its decision are the very steps that should have been done from the very beginning. The decision may still have some loopholes from the point of view of nit-picking litigants and their lawyers especially the "losers" who still brought the case to the Court, but these loopholes can be plugged by administrative actions doable within a period much shorter than a protracted move of further elevating the case to the Supreme Court. As has often been repeatedly said during these times of endless politicking, let’s put these things behind us and move forward.

This unfortunate event in our country once more highlights the many infirmities in the Filipino character, the many undesirable qualities of the Filipinos that somehow explain why our country is still poor up to now.

Immediately noticeable is the sense of kanya-kanya. Those responsible for the leakage all of whom are obviously professionals have no compunction at all about the dire consequences of their criminal actions on the more than 17,000 students who took the nursing board exams. The lure of big bucks and the smug feeling that they can get away with it evidently drove them to resort to such deplorable actions.

Greediness has somehow bred in some of us the ability to make palusot. Unfortunately, these traits have been acquired by the examples from fellow Filipinos who are being lionized solely for their wealth, regardless of the devious means employed to amass them. It is common knowledge for example that some of our big business tycoons owning malls, airline companies, breweries, real estate and other enterprises have been recognized as "the most outstanding" in their own fields despite using pernicious methods in hiring employees. Our Department of Labor looks helpless in stopping their cruel practice of evading the regularization of their employees by hiring and firing them intermittently as "contractual" with fixed period of employment. To avoid the responsibilities of regular employers, they also resort to the practice of hiring workers through employment agencies such that the employees take home pay are substantially reduced by the agency fees.

Another undesirable trait surfacing in that scandal is the Filipinos’ disregard for the value of hard work. Those who perpetrate the leakage are apparently motivated by the big money coming their way without so much sweat. This easy come easy go mentality has spawned the gambling instinct among Filipinos thereby rendering jueteng eradication almost impossible. Most Filipinos have lost the virtue of industriousness and no longer believe that the hard way is the only enduring way.

The Filipinos’ penchant of taking court actions for every arguments or problems also became evident. The leakage problem need not have reached the CA. Those who feel aggrieved should have first thought of the more than 17,000 young men and women who will be seriously affected by a protracted court suit and the adverse publicity that goes with it especially abroad. It would have been beneficial to all concerned if matters have been discussed amicably and peacefully without public display of the misunderstanding.

In sum, this nursing leak scandal brings to focus the Filipinos’ lack of sense for the common good. This lack cannot be satisfied overnight. But for a good start, a sincere admission of our shortcomings in this regard should deeply permeate our hearts.

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