Gordon urges PRC officials to resign
Gordon urges PRC officials to resign
By RONNIE E. CALUMPITA, The Manila Times Reporter
Sen. Richard Gordon on Wednesday told officials of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) pointblank to resign for failing to ensure fairness in the June nursing board examination and tarnishing the integrity of the nursing profession.
"What is involved here is the integrity of the profession and the responsibility of the commission and the board [of nursing]," Gordon told the officials at the hearing of the Senate Committee on Civil Service and Government Reorganization.
The committee is looking into the leak that marred the licensure examination.
"The big deal is that there is no explanation on how we are dealing with the problem, with the whole system. I think all of you should resign," he said.
Gordon also wanted to know why the PRC was trying to cover up the leak by authorizing the oath-taking of successful examinees while the National Bureau of Investigation and the Senate were still looking into the anomaly.
"I don’t understand why you allowed the oath-taking," Gordon told PRC Chairman Leonor Tripon-Rosero.
Rosero insisted she would not resign over the controversy, and that the PRC was only recognizing the rights of board examinees who passed. "We will revoke or suspend their license" if those who took the oath before the issuance of a temporary restraining order by the Court of Appeals are found to have benefited from the leak," she said.
Questions in the exam were reportedly shown during the final coaching conducted by the Inress Review Center and Philippine College of Health Sciences owned by George Cordero, who recently resigned as president of the Philippine Nurses Association.
Cordero, who was also implicated in the leak, did not attend Wednesday’s hearing. He said he was rushed Monday to the Saint Luke’s Medical Center for the "recurrence of my previous surgical condition, a fistula which has been profusely bleeding."
Other officials of the PRC, Commission on Higher Education and NBI attended the hearing, apparently avoiding being served arrest warrants by the Senate, just like what it did to Presidential Commission on Good Government Chairman Camilo Sabio.
"They know the law and the detention of a big fish [Sabio] in the Senate really helped," Gordon said.
"It vindicates the fact that the Senate is a very responsible institution and because of the answers we’re getting we’re going come up with a better law and better nurses. To me it shows that the check-and-balance function [of the Senate] is working. In these investigations we see the qualities of the people we put in the PRC, Board of Nursing and CHED," he added.
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said that if the PRC commissioners snub the hearing, the Senate will cite them in contempt and serve arrest warrants on them.
"I’m just completing the process; we’ve issued two invitations, then subpoenas, which they also snubbed. We then ordered them to show cause why they should not be cited in contempt but failed to respond. The last ones we issued were subpoenas to appear in today’s hearing, which they did," Biazon said.
Julito Vitriolo, CHED deputy executive director, also attended Wednesday’s hearing although the Senate has not issued a subpoena against him. It was the first time a CHED official appeared in the investigation.
FROM: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=51038
By RONNIE E. CALUMPITA, The Manila Times Reporter
Sen. Richard Gordon on Wednesday told officials of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) pointblank to resign for failing to ensure fairness in the June nursing board examination and tarnishing the integrity of the nursing profession.
"What is involved here is the integrity of the profession and the responsibility of the commission and the board [of nursing]," Gordon told the officials at the hearing of the Senate Committee on Civil Service and Government Reorganization.
The committee is looking into the leak that marred the licensure examination.
"The big deal is that there is no explanation on how we are dealing with the problem, with the whole system. I think all of you should resign," he said.
Gordon also wanted to know why the PRC was trying to cover up the leak by authorizing the oath-taking of successful examinees while the National Bureau of Investigation and the Senate were still looking into the anomaly.
"I don’t understand why you allowed the oath-taking," Gordon told PRC Chairman Leonor Tripon-Rosero.
Rosero insisted she would not resign over the controversy, and that the PRC was only recognizing the rights of board examinees who passed. "We will revoke or suspend their license" if those who took the oath before the issuance of a temporary restraining order by the Court of Appeals are found to have benefited from the leak," she said.
Questions in the exam were reportedly shown during the final coaching conducted by the Inress Review Center and Philippine College of Health Sciences owned by George Cordero, who recently resigned as president of the Philippine Nurses Association.
Cordero, who was also implicated in the leak, did not attend Wednesday’s hearing. He said he was rushed Monday to the Saint Luke’s Medical Center for the "recurrence of my previous surgical condition, a fistula which has been profusely bleeding."
Other officials of the PRC, Commission on Higher Education and NBI attended the hearing, apparently avoiding being served arrest warrants by the Senate, just like what it did to Presidential Commission on Good Government Chairman Camilo Sabio.
"They know the law and the detention of a big fish [Sabio] in the Senate really helped," Gordon said.
"It vindicates the fact that the Senate is a very responsible institution and because of the answers we’re getting we’re going come up with a better law and better nurses. To me it shows that the check-and-balance function [of the Senate] is working. In these investigations we see the qualities of the people we put in the PRC, Board of Nursing and CHED," he added.
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said that if the PRC commissioners snub the hearing, the Senate will cite them in contempt and serve arrest warrants on them.
"I’m just completing the process; we’ve issued two invitations, then subpoenas, which they also snubbed. We then ordered them to show cause why they should not be cited in contempt but failed to respond. The last ones we issued were subpoenas to appear in today’s hearing, which they did," Biazon said.
Julito Vitriolo, CHED deputy executive director, also attended Wednesday’s hearing although the Senate has not issued a subpoena against him. It was the first time a CHED official appeared in the investigation.
FROM: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=51038
"PRC head asked to resign for ‘bungling’ leak scandal"
Selected COMMENTS:
Anonymous said...
RG
You are giving injustice to 17,821 students who passed the exam. We deserve to take our Oaths & be given our licenses. If you want a clean up, do it with them & not to us! Pareho kayo ni Ang na walang alam nakikisawsaw!
7:46 PM
Anonymous said...
Richard Gordon ikaw na lang ang mag resign okay?
8:50 PM
Anonymous said...
Dear Senator Richard Gordon:
You are still investigating the nursing scandal, so you should not do what you precisely are accusing PRC officials of doing--that they made PREMATURE decisions.
In your case, as shown in the TV newscast, you PREMATURELY concluded that nursing review centers should be closed, that nursing schools should take care of providing the exam review. This is not correct. Nursing schools with small student population cannot afford highly paid reviewers who are really topnotch in the teaching profession. There are not enough good reviewers for the 435 nursing schools--many of them have gone abroad. Nursing schools specialize in teaching students how to practice the profession, but review centers specialize in teaching reviewees how to pass board exams. The two are different. The fact that college education is the one that really prepare the students for practice is evident from the internship work in hospitals where the reputable schools send their students to the better and bigger hospitals, something that is not totally considered in board exams.
Moreover, review schools (or centers) are needed not because many nursing schools are substandard but because there is a need for them. For example, many students would like to enroll in the best schools, but their enrollment is limited as in the case of UP; or their tuition fees may be unaffordable, or their locations maybe too far from the homes of many students, as in the case of other good schools. However, those who were not accomodated in reputable schools or who were very far from the really good schools will have the chance to learn what they missed in college as well as equalize their chance of passing the board exam by enrolling in the best review schools after graduation, which entail just one time cost. Thus, what is needed is to regulate review schools, such as on allowable fees, number of reviewees per classroom, qualifications of reviewers, etc., not to prohibit them. Most important of all, the Senate should look into what reforms can be done to prevent future leakages in board exams--and whether PRC and BON have the capabilities to address this problem.
On the matter of PRC's suppposed premature release of exam results, it is not premature as far as the examinees and their families are concerned. Their clamor for release of results and their tension and agony while waiting is quite evident in the Internet. When PRC released the result, it already knew which questions were leaked, which was why it was able to conduct a recomputation of grades with the effect of leakage removed. Also, as of that time, all complainants have already said their piece, as shown in their complaints before the Court of Appeals which did not add anything earthshaking to what was already revealed before. As you are aware, once their complaints were submitted, that will be the basis of litigation and decision. The Court cannot entertain further accusations that are not included in the complaints--just like in the impeachment case--otherwise there will be no end to litigation! Thus, PRC had enough bases for their action.
Look, up to now, the NBI has not submitted a final report. Had PRC waited for NBI's final report before it released the results, di hangga ngayon wala pang result! Eh baka naloko na o nagkasakit o nag-rebelde ang marami sa examinees dahil sa magkahalong nerbiyos at galit sa walang katapusang paghihintay!!!!
Iyan lamang po, at kailangan na ng successful passers ang kanilang lisensya. Huwag silang parusahan sa kung anuman ang ginawa ng PRC. Sawa na sila sa tagal ng paghihintay. Hindi solution ang retake sa cheating. Ang solution ay reforms in the board examination system. Kung wala ito, bale wala ang pagpaparusa sa mga may kasalanan, bale wala ang retake. Mauulit pa rin ang cheating kung walang reform!!!
9:31 PM
Anonymous said...
The results of the exam had to be released early so that examinees can PLAN AHEAD and not be in limbo. For example, those who did not pass have to prepare for the next exam rather than look for jobs.
11:41 PM
Anonymous said...
Tama po ito. Sana makarating kay Gordon.
12:24 AM
Anonymous said...
May nagparating na kay Senator Gordon (at iba pang mga senador)through email....
6:57 AM
Anonymous said...
Simle lang po ang dapat gawin sa mga madadaldal na nakikisawsaw sa Nursing leakage scandal...Hulihin sila at dalhin sa plaza at ipatong sa itaas at hubaran ng salawal, pagkatapos patalikurin, then tiradorin ang....!!! he! he! he! he! he!
7:18 AM
Anonymous said...
Sinasabi ko sa inyong muli na ang lahat ay nakupas at walang history sa mundo na hindi lumipas at tiyak ganito rin ang mangyayari sa scandal na ito sa leakage...
Ang suma-total ay nasayang lang ang maraming pagkakataon at panahon.
7:22 AM
Anonymous said...
Hindi masasayang ang lahat kung may REFORMS sa nursing board exam system. Ito ang dapat gawin at hindi dapat kalimutan dahil pang-matagalan ang epekto nito.
7:54 AM
********************************
PRC head asked to resign for ‘bungling’ leak scandal
Allowing oath-taking ‘bad judgment,’ says Gordon
http://newsinfo.inq7.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=22048
By Veronica Uy
INQ7.net
Last updated 06:06pm (Mla time) 09/20/2006
(UPDATE) SENATOR Richard Gordon on Wednesday asked Leonor Tripon-Rosero, chairperson of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), to resign for bungling the handling of the June 2006 nursing licensure examination leakage scandal....
Posted by
Anonymous |
8:07 AM
I would like to comment on Sen. Gordon's call for PRC officials to resign. I am one of those examinees in June '06 NLE whose name didn't appear in the board exam result. And I am not ashame to tell it. If those 17,821 students have the guts to fight their right, how about those 25,000 plus students who failed and victims of PRC mishandling of the problem? Sen. Gordon is not politicking on this nursing leakage scandal.He just want to clean the present system and its their job.
Posted by
Anonymous |
11:17 AM
For anonymous 9:31
PRCs actions should not be based on the clamor of those who "passed"! Kaw na rin nag sabi recomputated and grades!
Isip - isip tol! Tama ba yon!
Posted by
Anonymous |
2:31 PM
So, what do you want? For PRC to leave the matters to the Courts and Congress and wait for them to decide on the issue before releasing the result of the exams? If that is the case, because the matter will likely reach the Supreme Court, the December board exam may be over but the result of the June 2006 exam may not yet be known! Would that not be heartless and most cruel torture to the 42,000 examinees whose lives would be held hanging and in suspense for who knows up to when?
If you are a competent official in the Executive Branch of the government, you decide on what is right, then you do it. You do not ask and wait for the Courts or Congress to tell you what to do. For example, in the case of Dr. Dante Ang of the Presidential Task force, instead of joining complainants before the Court of Appeals, he should have requested an inter-agency meeting with the Office of the President, DOH, DOJ, and PRC and presented his case before them. Instead of asking the favorable decision of the Court of Appeals, he should have asked the decision of hiss boss, the President of the Philippines, through an inter-agency meeting where the side of each agency concerned can be heard. If he could convince the inter-agency officials on his NO RETAKE positon, then the decision as announced by Malacanang would have been NO RETAKE and he didn't have to go to the Court of Appeals. What's more, he didn't have to suffer the EMBARRASSMENT of being rebuffed by the President before the entire nation!!!
As part of the Executive Branch, PRC tried to do a DAMAGE CONTROL by trying to put a closure to the matter as soon as possible, to avoid a prolonged bad publicity before the local and intertnational community that can harm the local nursing profession, especially those who wish to work abroad. There is nothing wrong with that for as long as the intention is not to whitewash the case, for as long as it will doggedly pursue through completion the two very important courses of action on the scandal: first, investigation, prosecution, and PUNISHMENT to the fullest extent of the law (if found guilty) of suspected culprits, and, second, institution of REFORMS in the licensure exam system towards the prevention of cheating in future exams. If Senator Gordon were part of the Executive Branch, I believe he may think along the same line, that is, institution of damage control but at the same time doing what is necessary.
As part of the Executive Branch, that was what we did in the past. We found some anomalies, but we did not volunteer the information to the Commission on Audit (COA) officials because if they knew, they would be very strict on everything, to our own difficulty and disadvantage. However, on our own, we imposed the necessary sanctions and instituted remedial measures, such as outright dismissal of those involved and streamling of the system. Later, when the combined team of COA and Good Government people who included no less than Mr. Eufemio Domingo (who later became COA Chairman) conducted a special audit of the agency, they did not have any derogatory findings, as revealed to us in the exit interview when they ended their field audit.
Posted by
Anonymous |
11:09 PM
Hindi "clamor" ng passers dahil hindi pa alam kung sino ang passers before release of exam result. Clamor iyon ng 42,000 examinees, at kung ikaw ay examinee, kasama ka roon, at tiyak gusto mong malaman kaagad ang resulta.
Posted by
Anonymous |
4:28 AM
PRC is the supreme authority when it comes to profession and licensing ang the issuance of grades. In fact even the highest supreme court authority obtain and get their authority for having passed and or submitting all nescessary requirements prior to becoming a supreme court authority.
The supreme court authority has to play arbiter but no power to take the authority of PRC, or issuing final judgement about the result of examination.
What ever PRC final judgement is their final conclussion.
Posted by
Anonymous |
7:24 AM
hay naku richard gordon, how dare u ask the prc officials to resign, at ano? ikaw ang papalit? buwa hahahaha, parang imbis na makatulong ka na mabigyan ng hustisya ang mga pumasa ng walang daya, it seems ikaw pa ang lalo nagpapabagsak samin, Pilipino ka talaga, may Crabmentality. sana tubuan ng sipit yang mga kamay mo.
Posted by
Anonymous |
3:37 PM