Manipulated nursing grades confirmed

The results of last June’s nursing licensure examinations were manipulated in such a way that flunkers were able to take their oath while some examinees who actually passed were required to take the examinations again, Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said yesterday.

"We are not yet ready to come up with the final report, but what I can generally tell is that we have found a lot of aberrations in the computations of grades of the examinees," he said.

The labor chief said they found out that some of the examinees were allowed to take their oath when they actually failed the examination, and that some scores were padded by as much as eight points.

"This is very disturbing," he said. "That is why we have been urging caution against oath taking of the examinees until this controversy has been resolved with finality."

On the other hand, "some of the examinees were included in the list of those who should retake the examination, when in the master list they passed all the subjects in the licensure examination."

Brion, whom President Arroyo tasked to look into allegations of leakage in the nursing examinations, said a special team from the Department of Labor and Employment is now reviewing the grades of the examinees based on the document submitted by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

The PRC has submitted the master list of grades of the 41,000 examinees –those who were supposed to retake the exam and those who passed it, he added.

Brion said they hope to complete their investigation on Monday and make the appropriate action against those who will be found liable for altering the grades of the examinees.

He said they have asked for an explanation from PRC officials about the alleged aberration, but they failed to make a justification since they merely noted that those were the grades obtained by the complainants.

"This case is far from over but we are doing our best to deal with this problem," he said.

However, Brion said they respect the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) allowing the oath taking of those who passed the nursing licensure board examination last June.

They will submit their findings to Malacañang and let the Court decide whether to revoke the licenses of those who failed but were allowed to take oath, he added.

Before leaving for China last Oct. 27, President Arroyo named an acting chairman and four members of the PRC’s Board of Nursing (BON) to replace the six nursing examiners who resigned amid allegations of leakage in the nursing exams.

They are: Dr. Carmencita Abaquin, acting chairman; and Leonila Faire, Betty Merritt, Perla Po and Marco Antonio Sto. Tomas as acting members.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Mrs. Arroyo signed the appointments of the five acting BON members on Oct. 27, shortly before she left for an official visit to China.

"The appointments by the President were made after the resignations of all the board members were accepted upon the recommendation of the Professional Regulation Commission and the Department of Labor and Employment," he said.

Mrs. Arroyo had accepted the resignation of BON chairwoman Eufemia Octaviano, along with her five board members –Remedios Fernandez, Letty Kuan, Estelita Galutira, Anesia Dionisio and Virginia Madeja, he added.

Abaquin and Merrit are former professors of the University of the Philippines College of Nursing, while Sto. Tomas is the vice president of the Association of Deans of Philippine Colleges of Nursing.

Ermita said there should be seven BON members, but the selection board is still choosing the other two board members.

The seventh slot in the BON was vacant even before the alleged leakage took place, he added.

Ermita said the new board members will prepare the questionnaires in the nursing board examinations set for December.

Malacañang is hoping that with last week’s oath taking of those who passed the examination as ordered by the Court of Appeals, and the appointment of new BON members, the controversy on the nursing examinations would simmer down, he added. – With Paolo Romero, Sheila Crisostomo