Arroyo inks law vs civil service cheats

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has signed into law the bill against those who engage in cheating in civil service examinations. Republic Act 9416 also empowers the Civil Service Commission to investigate and decide on such cases. The passage of the law came on the heels of the controversy over the leakage of test questions during the June 2006 nursing board examinations. The law aims to prevent those who would be future graft and corruption offenders from entering the government as “public service should not be a haven for misfits and cheats." Under the law, cheating covers acts committed on, before or after the civil service exams that would undermine the sanctity and integrity of the screening process. These acts include: impersonation, use of codigos or crab sheets, employing of persons outside the examination rooms who may provide the codigos or answers to the questions; tampering of examination records; switching of examinee numbers, possession and use of fake certificates of eligibility; and the collusion between examinees and examination personnel. Tutorial or review centers that facilitate the passing of an examinee through similar acts could also be held liable for cheating and the unauthorized possession, use, reproduction and dissemination of examination materials by government employees, private individuals, groups or review centers would also be charged with cheating. Penalties include imprisonment of six years and one day to 12 years and a fine of P50,000. The punishment also includes: for non-government employee offenders, disqualification from taking such exams in the future and from entering government service; and for public employees, dismissal from office, forfeited benefits and canceled eligibility. Government employees convicted of cheating in the CSC exams would also be perpetually barred from entering any government positions and from taking the exams in the future. - GMANews.TV