If, indeed, leakage (of test questions in the) June 2006 Nursing Licensure
Examinations reached Mindanao, the government should limit a retake to the
passers who benefited from it," Reuben Baldoza, parent of a board passer from
San Pedro College, said in an interview with MindaNews Saturday.
"But they have to prove that," he said. "If indeed it is true, then they
should hold only the licenses of those passers who prepared from those review
centers," he said.
National media reported Friday that the National Bureau of Investigation has
new witnesses who pointed out the exam leakage involved four of five parts,
not just two.
An official of the University of Santo Tomas was quoted as saying the leakage
was nationwide because review centers that benefited from it have branches in
the Visayas and Mindanao (see related story).
Baldoza said investigators should also get witnesses from Mindanao. He said
they should testify if, indeed, examinees from the review center's Mindanao
branches got the leakage.
He said only few board passers reviewed in the branches and affiliates of
review centers tagged in the leakage scam.
Aiza Felyn Bosio, spokesperson of the board passers, told MindaNews Saturday
not all those who took the exams reviewed in the review centers tagged to the
leakage.
"Also, our friends from those review centers here in Davao did not benefit
from the leakage," she said.
Bosio said it was easy for them to say the leak went nationwide. "It is
unfair! How sure are they that the leakage reached us in Mindanao?" Bosio
asked.
But Bosio added that if, indeed, the allegation is proven, they would call
only for the suspension of their license. "Forcing them to retake is
unacceptable," she said. She clarified that if only the exam's parts 3 and 5
were rigged, then if they passed the items in the other three parts, it is not
fair to ask them to retake.
The group, coming from five cities in Mindanao, said Friday that "selective
retake" is the most that they could accept in order to address the crisis.
On Sept. 6, the group appealed for the lifting of the temporary restraining
order (TRO) issued against their oath-taking. Baldoza said they sent
manifestations, signed by at least 420 board passers from Mindanao, to the
Office of the President, the Senate, the House of Representatives and the
Court of Appeals.
"We even sent a text message to the President but we haven't received a
reply," Baldoza said Friday.
Last month, the group condemned the leakage and claimed it did not reach
examinees in Mindanao's three testing centers – Davao, Cagayan de Oro and
Zamboanga.
Baldoza claimed their group includes board passers and their parents in Davao,
General Santos City, Cotabato City, Tagum City and Davao Oriental.
An estimated 2,800 nursing graduates from Southeastern Mindanao passed the
controversial exam conducted June 11 and 12. A total of 17,821 out of 42,006
examinees nationwide passed it. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)