Joined by the League of Concerned Nurses and the Binuklod na Samahan ng mga Student Nurses, the UST group also asked the CA to address the leakage issue with "a more definitive ruling."
They contended in their 16-page motion for reconsideration that all examinees should be ordered to re-take Tests III and V to protect and save the integrity of the nursing examinations.
They pointed out that a selective re-taking of the tests by the 1,687 examinees would violate the right to equal protection of all those who took the examinations.
"The decision raised more questions than answers. It did not address the issue of the leakage itself and how it affected and continues to affect the integrity of NLE…. On the matter of selective re-take of Tests III and V of 1,687 examinees, it seems that these examinees were given undue advantage over others who did not pass…," they said.
"To solve this issue, petitioners prayed for a retake of Tests III and most especially, Test V. Indeed, the CA ordered a selective re-take for the two tests but it discriminated against those who passed but did not cheat, and those who did not cheat, and it favored those who passed and cheated," they also said.
In a decision issued on Oct. 13, 2006, the CA ordered the selective re-taking of Tests III and V among the 1,687 examinees whose names were included in the list of successful examinees following the implementation of PRC’s Resolution No. 31.
Resolution No. 31 provided for the invalidation of 20 items Test III and the re-computation of the scores in Test V.
At the same time, the appellate court ordered immediate oath taking of the 17,324 nursing graduates who originally passed the NLE.
The CA said that the PRC and Board of Nursing abused their discretion in issuing Resolution No. 31 that resulted in the increase of the passing rate of the June 11, and 12, 2006 examinations from 41.24 percent to 42.42 percent.
"Such increase of 1.18 percent which benefited 1,687 examinees who actually failed (as their names did not appear in the unaltered results) but who resultantly passed when the Ibe Formula was introduced, constitutes a clear case of grave abuse of discretion," it said.
However, the appellate court noted that the implementation of the formula under Resolution No. 31 resulted in the dropping of 1,186 new nurses from the list of successful examinees.
It declared "whimsical and capricious" the issuance of Resolution No. 31 because the order allowed the 1,687 examinees to pass "without satisfying" the standards set by the Nursing Act of 2002 on how examinees may be rated in a licensure examination.
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