BAGUIO CITY (Aug. 24) — Whistle blowers here who led the exposé on leakage of test questions in the Nursing Licensure examination June last year welcome the Department of Justice (DOJ) move to file criminal cases against officials of two review centers linked with the anomaly.

The dropping of another review center from the complaint was however criticized as lapses by DOJ as they (officials of the review center) are allegedly involved with the leakage scam.

“We welcome the DOJ move. At least our justice system may have worked,” said Ruth Thelma Tingda, Governor of the Cordillera’s Philippine Nursing Association (PNA). She criticized however that it took the authorities so long to file the case.

“Isn’t that an indication that there is a strong case against them (review centers)?”, Prof. Caster Palaganas, a PNA adviser, pointed out to this reporter when interviewed.

Charge them all

The DOJ Resolution was however, criticized by another nurse who requested not to be identified, why the officers of the review center Royal Pentagon Review Specialist Inc. were dropped from the case. The Pentagon officials were believed to have been involvement in the leakage scam, according to this Nordis source.

“What happened to the more “guilty” ones? Paano nakalusot ang Pentagon,” the source said.

The dropping of the officers of the Pentagon Review Center was considered to be a lapse by the DOJ, as many believed they were involved.

The DOJ, in a national news cast, claimed that they will be filing criminal complaint against officials of the Gapuz Review Center and the Inress Review Center for violating Republic Act 8981, a law that modernize the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC). If proven guilty, the officials could be jailed for maximum of 12 years or fined P 100,000.00 or both.

The 2006 leakage

Nursing students who took the examinations in this city in June last year led the expose of the exam leakage on two parts of the examinations.

They identified that review centers were able to hand them questions before the examination which were also the same questions they encountered during the actual examinations.

Joined by professional nurses of the PNA in the Cordillera and Baguio City, they called for the investigation of the leakage scandal. Other examinees in Manila joined the campaign as they further exposed leakage scam.

The campaign finally led to the identification of two members of the Board of Nursing (BON) as responsible for the leakage. The two BON officials also resigned from their positions as a result of the expose.

The exposé made government authorities come up with an order for the retake by examinees/passers on the two tests affected by the leakage.

Many 2006 passers had to retake the exam as nurses associations abroad claimed that they will not hire passers of that exam if they will not retake the two tests tainted with the leakage. # Arthur L. Allad-iw for NORDIS