Let the Manila and Baguio nurses do the retake!

While Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) was in Cebu to grace the birthday celebration of Gov. Gwen Garcia the big news we have heard yesterday was that, finally, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has declared that the cheating in the June National Nursing Licensure Exams was limited only to the cities of Manila and Baguio. The NBI also pointed to some 17 officials of at least three review centers that shall be charged for their involvement in the leaked exams.

Now this should be good news for us in Cebu and the rest of the Philippines because as we have repeatedly said, Cebu nursing students wasn't privy to any of the leakage being spread hence they should not be made to do the retake as some kind of punishment. I did have a little chat with the President yesterday over lunch, but I didn't touch on this subject least it might be premature or whether she already met with the Nursing students.

With this NBI report, the more we should ask the President to only make those Nursing students in Baguio and Manila do a retake, although I submit that this isn't also fair to those who also didn't get the leakage. But it is the hard pill that they have to swallow. But for the rest of the Philippines, where none of the nursing examinees participated in the cheating, they shouldn't be punished for the mischief of others.

Meanwhile, I hope that the NBI already pointed who these 17 officials are so that they could be appropriately criminally charged. According to Catanduanes Congressman Joseph Santiago "We have adequate penalties for the manipulation and other corrupt practices in the conduct of professional eligibility examinations," Santiago said that under Section 15 of Republic Act 8981, also known as the PRC Modernization Act of 2000:

"(a) Any person who manipulates or rigs licensure examination results, secretly informs or makes known licensure examination questions prior to the conduct of the examination or tampers with the grades in professional licensure examinations shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment of not less than six years and one day to not more than 12 years or a fine of not less than P50,000 to not more than P100,000, or both imprisonment and fine at the discretion of the court;

(b) In case the offender is an officer or employee of the Commission or a member of the regulatory board, he/she shall be removed from office and shall suffer the penalty of perpetual absolute disqualification from public office in addition to the penalties prescribed in the preceding paragraph;

(c) The penalty of imprisonment ranging from four years and one day to six years or a fine ranging from P20,000 to not more than P49,000, or both imprisonment and fine at the discretion of the court, shall be imposed upon the accomplices. The penalty of imprisonment ranging from two years and one day to four years or a fine ranging from P5,000 to not more than P19,000, or both imprisonment and fine at the discretion of the court, shall be imposed upon the accessories."

Rep. Santiago pointed out, "These of course are without prejudice to other penalties the culprits may face for possible violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act as well as the Revised Penal Code's provisions against bribery. The challenge now for our law enforcement agencies is to nail these crooks forthwith and put them behind bars." I fully agree with this!

With the NBI report now out in public, let us hope that the President would agree (if she hasn't already) to allow the nurses who took the exam but were not implicated in the cheating to take their respective oaths of office so they can put this harrowing experience behind like a bad dream. But more importantly, we would like to see those 17 officials brought to court for the criminal charges that they have to face. Meanwhile, the 2nd batch of Nursing examinees will be taking the nursing exams come December. Let's hope that this time, there will be no more cheating that would disturb the nursing students and destroy the credibility of the Filipino nurses.

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Yes, it was a grand birthday affair that we attended yesterday morning at the Provincial Capitol's Social Hall with Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) gracing Gov. Gwen Garcia's birthday bash. Indeed, as she said to her friends, she was the luckiest person in the entire country to have no less than the President grace her birthday. We have to admit that Pres. Arroyo has given to Cebu more than all the Presidents combined, especially our hosting the 12th ASEAN Leader's Summit, a historic international event that only comes to the Philippines every 10 years.

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