Topnotcher decries nurse exam retake

The topnotcher in last year's controversial nursing board exams cried foul Sunday over the requirement of retaking parts of the exam before nurses can be issued visas to the US. Gringo San Diego said he was dismayed that the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) came out with the requirement when the issue should have been closed long ago. "Biglang maglalabas ng statement na kailangan ... papakuha kami ng exam, e matagal naman issue yan (Why will they come out with this requirement only now when the issue had been closed already)," San Diego said in a radio interview from his home in Pangasinan province. "Kung kailangan mag-retake walang magagawa kundi tumalima (But if we really have to retake, what can we do? We will just have to follow)," he added. Worse, he lamented that the review centers that he said were at the center of the controversy are still allowed to operate as if nothing happened. San Diego said the CGFNS requirement was like punishing the wrong parties and putting the burden on examinees who unwittingly attended review center courses. The Philippine government had filed charges against officials of review centers implicated in the leakage of exam materials but the cases have not progressed so far. "Bakit kaming mga examinee ang pinaparushan ang review center patuloy mag-operate (Why are they punishing us examinees when the review centers are still operating)?" he said. Earlier, labor secretary Arturo Brion said he backed a voluntary retake of the board exams, saying it will also bring closure to last year's nursing exam scandal. Brion had said Saturday he will recommend to Malacañang the voluntary partial retake of the exam, even as he virtually junked the possibility of appealing the requirement. He said he will meet with Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) chairwoman Leonor Rosero on the matter on Monday. He said Rosero had told him she will meet with the Philippine Nurses Association. GFNS announced Thursday that Filipino nursing graduates who passed the leakage-marred June 2006 nursing licensure examination are not eligible for a VisaScreen Certificate. VisaScreen Certificate is a requirement to apply for a nursing or related job in the US. All 17,323 passers in the June 2006 nursing licensure exam had been sworn in as licensed nurses on the basis of a decision by the Court of Appeals in October last year. Brion said his recommendation will not likely clash with the Supreme Court's decision Friday, where the high court junked an appeal by nursing teachers seeking a retake. On the other hand, he said the US agency's requirement was without prejudice to the exam results, and was "internal" to the US government. Earlier, Rosero told dzRH radio that relatively few will be affected by the move. For the moment, she said the Philippine government will abide by the decision of the Court of Appeals that only 1,687 examinees will have to retake Tests 3 and 5 of the exam. She added only those not yet applying for CGFNS will be affected by the edict as there have been many passers who already took the CGFNS and passed. Besides, she said the CGFNS edict applies only to the US and not to other countries accepting Filipino nurses.-GMANews.TV