Nursing association head quits over exams leakage

Beleaguered Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) president George Cordero quit his post Wednesday night after he was dragged into the controversy over a leakage in the nursing board examination last June, GMANews.TV learned Thursday. Cordero was linked to the mess after witnesses testified Wednesday in a Senate hearing that he (Cordero) claimed on the last day he coached nursing students that he paid for the trip of some members of the Board of Nursing to Switzerland as additional "perk" for leaking the exams. He was likewise accused of paying P7 million to the Bureau of Nursing Examiners to get the test leakage. He has since denied the accusation and threatened to file libel charges against those accusing him of initiating the test leakage. Cordero owns a nursing school, the Philippine College of Health Sciences Inc., and a review center. Dr. Marilyn Yap has been named as Cordero's replacement. In an interview with GMA 7's dzBB, Yap promised to "win back the integrity" of the nursing profession by fast-tracking reforms in the field. "It's a heavy responsibility but if we work together there's no burden we cannot carry. As of this morning, we're going to create a core group that will map out our directions," she said. She also said the group would not only identify "high-level reform programs" for the nursing profession but would also attempt to unify all groups involved in nursing. She said her priority would "probably be unification first then cleansing" of the industry. Yap announced that the oath-taking for successful examinees who would not retake the nursing board examinations would be on Aug. 22. She said those who would want to retake the exams would have to pay fees amounting to P900 and waive the "higher" grade if the retaken exam yields a lower grade. "They will also have to wait until December to take their oaths but at least they can be proud," she added. Yap also vowed to address another growing concern of the PNA, which is the continued exodus of Philippine nurses for jobs abroad due to poor economic conditions in the country. The nursing industry was thrown into chaos after reports of leakage in the nursing licensure examinations held in June came out in the media. Only 17,821 out of 42,006 examinees passed the Nurse Licensure Examination given by the Board of Nursing on June 11 and 12, 2006. The exam, given in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legazpi, Lucena, Tacloban, Tuguegarao and Zamboanga, covered five subjects, each with 100 questions. Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) earlier said the reported leakage has tainted the credibility of the government-sponsored examination and is likely to affect the deployment of Filipino nurses abroad. "We are not being favorably considered to host the NCLEX due to alleged forgeries and fraud in the licensure examinations. This has tainted the credibility of our nursing (board) exams," Baldoz said. She noted that this new incident put at risk the deployment of nurses in the US as well as in other parts of the world where Filipino nurses as well as other Filipino skilled workers are preferred. -GMANews.TV