Lawmaker calls for speedy probe of nursing exam leak
Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago called on Saturday for an immediate investigation of the Board of Nursing members who allegedly leaked questions for the nursing licensure exams held on June 11 and 12 in Baguio City.
"This is a very serious allegation that obviously cannot just be swept under the rug," Santiago said.
According to the Bicolano lawmaker, who belongs to the opposition party Nationalist People's Coalition, the Professional Regulation Commission should "promptly resolve the issue in a manner that would best preserve the probity and credibility of the (nursing) eligibility examination."
"Otherwise, we will be compelled to seek an inquiry by the appropriate House committees, if only to determine if existing safeguards are adequate, and if remedial measures are necessary," Santiago warned.
He also suggested that the help of the National Bureau of Investigation may be needed.
"If warranted, the PRC should call in the NBI," he said in a statement.
Santiago has long been an advocate of strengthening and professionalizing the country's nursing schools, whose graduates usually leave the country for better and high-paying jobs abroad, either in the US, Europe, or in the Middle East.
He made public on several occasions last year the best and worst nursing schools based on the performance of their graduates in the licensure tests over the last five years.
Around 91 nursing graduates filed a petition before the PRC that seeks to "suspend preventively" the members of the Board of Nursing for the purported leak during the licensure examination that was held last month in Baguio City.
The deans and faculty members of the nursing schools of the University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, and the University of the East had also called for a swift investigation of the alleged leak.
"The PRC should have seen this coming. There will always be rotten individuals who will exploit the vulnerability of the examination, and profit by the desperation of a number of examinees to make the grade so they can quickly search for greener pastures abroad," Santiago said.
In June 2005, only 12,843, or 49.4 percent, of the 26,000 examinees passed the nursing licensure test administered by the Board of Nursing in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legazpi, Lucena, Tacloban, Tuguegarao, and Zamboanga.
Growing global demand for nurses has inspired an increasing number of high school graduates, and even professionals such as physicians and teachers, to study nursing in the hope of getting lucrative jobs abroad, which ironically spawned substandard nursing schools, Santiago said.
"Every year, 460 schools in the country graduate up to 25,000 nurses. The Philippines has been sending overseas some 15,000 nurses annually, more than any other country, according to the World Health Organization," he added. - GMANews.TV
"This is a very serious allegation that obviously cannot just be swept under the rug," Santiago said.
According to the Bicolano lawmaker, who belongs to the opposition party Nationalist People's Coalition, the Professional Regulation Commission should "promptly resolve the issue in a manner that would best preserve the probity and credibility of the (nursing) eligibility examination."
"Otherwise, we will be compelled to seek an inquiry by the appropriate House committees, if only to determine if existing safeguards are adequate, and if remedial measures are necessary," Santiago warned.
He also suggested that the help of the National Bureau of Investigation may be needed.
"If warranted, the PRC should call in the NBI," he said in a statement.
Santiago has long been an advocate of strengthening and professionalizing the country's nursing schools, whose graduates usually leave the country for better and high-paying jobs abroad, either in the US, Europe, or in the Middle East.
He made public on several occasions last year the best and worst nursing schools based on the performance of their graduates in the licensure tests over the last five years.
Around 91 nursing graduates filed a petition before the PRC that seeks to "suspend preventively" the members of the Board of Nursing for the purported leak during the licensure examination that was held last month in Baguio City.
The deans and faculty members of the nursing schools of the University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, and the University of the East had also called for a swift investigation of the alleged leak.
"The PRC should have seen this coming. There will always be rotten individuals who will exploit the vulnerability of the examination, and profit by the desperation of a number of examinees to make the grade so they can quickly search for greener pastures abroad," Santiago said.
In June 2005, only 12,843, or 49.4 percent, of the 26,000 examinees passed the nursing licensure test administered by the Board of Nursing in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legazpi, Lucena, Tacloban, Tuguegarao, and Zamboanga.
Growing global demand for nurses has inspired an increasing number of high school graduates, and even professionals such as physicians and teachers, to study nursing in the hope of getting lucrative jobs abroad, which ironically spawned substandard nursing schools, Santiago said.
"Every year, 460 schools in the country graduate up to 25,000 nurses. The Philippines has been sending overseas some 15,000 nurses annually, more than any other country, according to the World Health Organization," he added. - GMANews.TV
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