Palace to DOLE: Set date for nursing test retake

Malacanang need not issue an executive order to pave the way for a re-take of the leakage-tainted June 2006 nursing licensure examinations, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol said Monday. Interviewed by Palace reporters, Apostol said Labor Secretary Arturo Brion just have to coordinate with the Philippine Regulation Commission and set the date for the exam re-take. The Philadelphia-based Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) - International announced on February 14 that Filipino nursing graduates who passed the June 2006 nursing licensure examination are not eligible for a VisaScreen Certificate. CGFNS said the decision made by its Board of Trustees is final and is not subject to an appeal. In its website (www.cgfns.org), CGFNS urged Philippine authorities to “provide an opportunity for re-take of tests (3 and 5) without surrender of licensure" so that the June 2006 passers may qualify for the VisaScreen Certificate. “The VisaScreen Certification Program is a federally mandated immigration screening program for certain foreign health professionals seeking an occupational visa to the United States. CGFNS is designated by U.S. immigration law to administer this program," it explained. “Pursuant to its mandate under Section 212(a)(5)(C) of the U.S. Immigration Nationality Act, CGFNS has determined that those Philippine nurses who were sworn in as licensed nurses in the Philippines following their passing the compromised June 2006 licensure examination are not eligible for the issuance of a VisaScreen Certificate," CGFNS asserted. “CGFNS has further determined that the June 2006 passers are able to overcome this bar and qualify for issuance of a VisaScreen Certificate by taking the equivalent of Tests 3 and 5 on a future Philippine nursing exam," it explained. Brion said earlier on Monday that he has begun holding talks with deans of the Centers of Excellence under the Commission on Higher Education (ChED) on the possibility of conducting a review for the nurses who would be willing to re-take the equivalent of Tests 3 and 5 of the June 2006 exam. Brion said he had submitted a draft EO to Malacanang on the mechanics for the re-take, but Apostol said the EO was not necessary. “Bakit kailangan pa ng EO? (Why do you need an EO?) All he has to do is talk with the PRC, and fix the date for the examination," Apostol said. “Hindi na kailangan ang intervention ng Palasyo. Binigyan na siya ng authority so all he has to do is to talk with the PRC and then set the date for exams (The Palace need not intervene. He had been given the authority)," he explained. “The option actually will depend on the individual. If you want to go to the States, you need a B-15 visa. The only way for them to get it is to take the exams," Apostol said. “If they will not take (the exam, then that’s it). Nasa kanila ‘yan, option nila ‘yon (It is up to them, it’s their option). If they want to go to the States as nurses, they must get the visa, and for them to get the visa, they should take the exam and pass the exam. Otherwise, they can live and work somewhere else," Apostol asserted. Asked if Malacanang was no longer pursuing its decision to appeal the decision to the CGFNS, Aspotol said, “That is a rule in the States. If you want to go the States, you follow their rule. If you do not want to,never mind." CGFNS said the only way to be eligible for VisaScreen Certificate is to re-take Tests 3 and 5 of the June 2006 licensure exam and pass it. The re-take, Brion said, is for the purposes of passing upon the validity of the Philippine nursing licenses as granted by the Professional Regulation Commission and that this is mainly for securing the VisaScreen Certificate. CGFNS, he said, is a private organization commission by the US government to implement the VisaScreen Certificate requirement under a federal immigration law. “This means to me that this is something outside the reach of the Philippine government, and this applies only to those who would wish to enter the United States. If you look at it that way, then we should be very happy that people whom they consider to be ineligible are being given the opportunity to take the exam to qualify or to be eligible for the VisaScreen Certificate," he underscored. 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 2006. Some 1,687 of the passers from review centers where the leakage allegedly happened re-took Tests 3 (Medical Surgical Nursing) and 5 (Psychiatric Mental Health) last December 2 and 3, along with the regular batch of new examinees. Brion said the DOLE is not forcing all of the June 2006 exam passers to retake Tests 3 and 5. “This is a voluntary decision on the part of our licensed nurses whether to go to the US. It is a personal choice, so this has to be necessarily something voluntary. We cannot impose this on people," Brion asserted. “What we are only doing is we are providing the opportunity for these graduates to be eligible for that VisaScreen Certificate. We are just enhancing their employability," he stressed. Presently, Brion said the government is just preparing arrangements for the conduct of a review for those willing to re-take the exam. Pinili namin sa aming unang pakikipag-usap ang Centers of Excellence. Ang deans nagkaroon ng mungkahi (We chose to discuss this with the Centers of Excellence first. The deans have some suggestions)," Brion said in an interview on dzRH radio. He did not say which of the Centers of Excellence have agreed to conduct the reviews for the nursing examinees who took the controversial exams in June 2006. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has not updated its list of Centers of Excellence since February 2001. As of February 2001, the CHED listed eight centers of excellence (www.ched.gov.ph/statistics/coecods.html) for nursing, in Cagayan Valley, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Central Mindanao, Region 11, Metro Manila, and Cordillera Autonomous Region. These include the Saint Paul College in Cagayan Valley and in Iloilo; Siliman University; Liceo de Cagayan in Central Mindanao; San Pedro College in Region 11; University of Santo Tomas, University of the Philippines Manila in Metro Manila; and St. Louis University in Cordillera. Brion also reiterated that the retake of the exams will be purely voluntary, and that the retaking does not void the licenses given to the successful June 2006 examinees. Earlier, Brion said his department will offer the voluntary retake of Test 3 and 5 of the June 2006 Nursing Exam. He said the DOLE will exercise its supervision and control over the professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and is coordinating with the Board of Nursing (BON) on this. Based on the draft EO prepared by Brion, the DOLE, acting through the BON, and using the administrative processes of the PRC, shall handle the exam re-take. The BON shall prepare the regular examination questions which shall contain the equivalent of Tests 3 and 5 of the June 2006 examination. It will also administer the exam under PRC supervision of the regular nursing examinees and under joint DOLE-PRC supervision for the voluntary examinees. Brion added that he shall designate schools as special review centers through which the government may channel financial assistance for the voluntary examinees' review. "These schools are either recognized by the Commission on Higher Education as centers of excellence in nursing or with the highest passing rate in nursing examinations in their area to ensure the integrity of the preparatory stage of the examination process," he said. On the other hand, Brion recommended the waiver of the application fee of P600 as financial assistance to those who will re-take the Tests III and V of the exams. Last December 2 and 3, the government conducted only a "selective" re-take of the compromised nursing licensure exam for 1,687 passers in the June 2006 exam who came from review centers where leakage of test manuscripts were reported. CGFNS said the decision to disqualify the June 2006 nursing licensure passers from the VisaScreen Certificate was arrived at “after careful consideration" and “made in support of this critical mission of CGFNS." It said it investigated the leakage “soon after the first reports of irregularities were received" and sent a fact-finding mission to the Philippines in September 2006. “CGFNS has concluded that the licensure process for those who received their license as a result of passing the compromised June 2006 licensure examination raises significant questions about the accurate assessment of the competencies of many of those individuals," the announcement said. “CGFNS is unable to certify that the licensure is comparable to a U.S. license. In this instance, applicable U.S. immigration law will not permit CGFNS to issue the VisaScreen Certificate required of internationally educated health care workers to those nurses who obtained Philippine licensure on the basis of passing the June 2006 nursing licensure examination," it explained. “The integrity of foreign licensing systems ultimately affects the health and safety of patients in the United States, a primary consideration of CGFNS in its role in evaluating candidates under U.S. immigration law," CGFNS said. - GMANews.TV