Nurses hit PRC for failure to create independent fact finding body
Nurses hit PRC for failure to create independent fact finding body
Petition GMA to intervene
BAGUIO CITY — As the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) failed to to investigate the June nursing board leakage scam, professional nurses and the examinees who filed the complaint to the PRC for the investigation are now gathering signatures for a petition requesting Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to create an independent body that would investigate the leakage scam.
In a press conference here on August 3, officers of the Philippine Nursing Association (PNA) chapters in the Cordillera and Baguio announced that they already gathered thousands of signatures for the petition.
Dean Ruth Tingda, the PNA governor of the Cordillera region, explained to local media, that since the PRC failed to act on their call for independent fact-finding body, they are bringing the issue to the attention of the president.
“It is our view that the only way we can reverse the effects of the leakage is for your administration to demonstrate unequivocally that it does not condone the anomaly. We are firmly convinced that the creation of a fact finding body is a necessary step in that direction,” states the petition signed by Tingda and Dr. Mary Grace Lacanaria, dean of the College of Nursing of the Saint Louis University and president of the Association of Deans of the Philippine Nursing Colleges in the Cordillera.
They also asked in the petition the suspension of the commissioners of the PRC and liable members of the Board of Nursing while the investigation is pending.
Two members of the BON were allegedly involved in the leakage scam.
Tingda and Lacanaria claimed that the commissioners and BOB members are all her appointees.
Scam background
It can be recalled that leakage materials on Sets III and V of the June 11-12 nursing board exam were distributed by the Gapuz Review Center to its reviewees in this city and later leakages in Metro Manila for at least 200 questions. This prompted 92 examinees in Baguio, joined later by more than 400 professional nurses, to file a complaint on June 21 to the PRC seeking for the creation of an independent fact finding body and to punish those involved in the leakage.
However, the complainants claimed that the PRC failed to create the body, but instead created its own investigating body and had been issuing statements that failed to address their demands but claims that there was no leakage.
“The PRC failed to create the independent body that would clear all this mess,” claimed the complainants. They also hit the PRC for releasing the results without first determining the extent of the scam. Only 42% passed the board exam out of the 43,000 examinees.
Supports
The complainants gained broad support and attracted congressional inquiry in relation with the leakage scam.
On August 1, Congressman Marcelino Libanan delivered a privilege speech urging the investigation of the scam. The controversy is “wreaking havoc to the integrity and credibility of the entire certification or licensure system of the country,” claimed Libanan.
That same day, Gabriela Party List Representative Liza Maza filed House Resolution 1323 calling for an investigation of the scam in aid of legislation. In the Senate, Sen. Richard Gordon and Sen. Biazon filed separate resolutions for an investigation in aid of legislation.
Meanwhile broader groups of professional nurses are exerting great efforts to gain support for their call to create independent fact finding body. “With our strength, GMA should create that independent body,” they claimed.
According to professional nurses here, their call will test GMA as her policy is to allow nurses abroad for revenues and the investigation results would tarnish the image of the Philippines abroad. # Arthur L. Allad-iw for NORDIS
From : NORDIS
http://www.nordis.net/news/2006/ndw060806/ndw060806_06nurses_prc.htm
