‘I hope the guilty will be punished’

MANGALDAN, Pangasinan — "I hope the truth will come out and the guilty will be punished."

Thus said 21-year-old Mangaldan native Gringo de Guzman Sandiego, who topped the nursing board examinations, on the leakage of test questions.

"Unfair sa mga naghirap (It’s unfair to those who had persevered)," said the cum laude graduate of the University of Pangasinan in Dagupan City.

When the leakage of test questions was exposed — and subsequently traced to the manuscripts of two members of the Board of Nursing — Sandiego admitted being apprehensive that he and other nursing graduates would have to retake the board exams, their earlier sacrifices going to waste.

Of the 42,006 takers, only 17,821 passed the nursing board exams.

Sandiego, the second child of five children of a certified public accountant-turned-taxi driver and a plain housewife, admitted feeling sure that he would hurdle the exams, but not land in the Top 10 or even be the topnotcher.

"This only proves that even though you come from the province, you could be at par with anyone," he said in Tagalog.

His formula for success: "Strive for excellence, believe in yourself, and follow your parents’ advices." — With Cesar Ramirez