Review centers also a bane to Civil Service Commission

Review centers are proving to be a bane not only for nursing licensure examinations, but even for civil service eligibility tests as well. The Civil Service Commission (CSC) bared Wednesday some review centers not only use exam materials of the CSC, but also post ads made to project the impression they have the CSC's sanction. "In my perspective, review centers should not be allowed as legitimate businesses but there are no laws with regard to review centers. You don't need accreditation, so all you need to do is register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)," CSC chair Karina David said at a hearing of the Senate committee on civil service. David said undercover operations by the CSC showed some review centers had "review materials" that were unusually similar to those of the CSC. But even if they caught these centers red-handed, David admitted there was nothing the CSC could do because there was no law against it. On the other hand, she said some review centers place ads in media suggesting that they had the CSC's approval. The result, David said, was that unqualified or even corrupt examinees who avail of the services of such review centers can easily get into government. David asked committee chair Sen. Panfilo Lacson to add a provision in a pending Senate anticheating bill that "it will not be legal to have review centers for civil service exams." Lacson noted that there are presently no regulatory bodies to supervise the review centers, whose owners need only register with SEC or the Trade Department. "So what happens? We admit into the civil service as civil servants people with low qualifications because they passed the civil service exam through cheating," said Lacson, whose bill aims to imprison those with possession of exam-related materials in whatever form for six to 12 years. - GMANews.TV