Cgfns To June '06 Nursing Board Passers

pinoy_guy · Feb 16, 2007

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?storyid=67000

prc to meet nurses hit by cgfns decision

the professional regulation commission said friday it will need to meet with nursing organizations and affected nursing graduates before deciding if it should conduct a retake of the leakage-marred june 2006 nursing licensure examination.
"[prc] decided it will be better for us to talk with nursing leaders and the examinees who will be involved, those who will be affected by the news release. we should meet so could have a common stand," leonor rosero, prc chairwoman, told dzmm.

what "common stand?"

bottomline is: if you want to work in the us as an rn, you need a green card. to get a green card, you need a visascreen certificate. to get a visascreen certificate, june 2006 passers will have to retake tests 3 & 5.

no ifs, ands, or buts.

this "meeting" and "common stand" will only delay this batch of rns from getting visascreen certificates.

they can "meet" and "make a common stand" all they want--they have nothing to lose.

while they bicker, other countries are racing to meet the us demand for rns.

and the june 2006 passers are in limbo.

rosero said prc cannot immediately order the retake of the nursing exam because of its legal implications.
she said that after hearing the news about cgfns's announcement, prc officials sought the opinion of the commission's legal division.
she said she and the other officials were advised to talk to the people who would be affected by cgfns' decision.
rosero said prc, the nle passers and nursing groups should be able to present a common position before cgfns.

sigh.

on thursday night remigia nathaniels of the philippine nurses' association said her group will write an appeal to cgfns and convince the international group to overturn its decision.
"we will write them and explain. if they don't want to listen then we will know," nathaniels said.

why should they listen???

they studied the case, they decided on it. there is no court of appeals in this case, when the cgfns raised the issue of patient safety.

"overturning its decision" would not be good for cgfns' credibility.

if you want to play in their turf, you gotta play by their rules.

my suggestion--go to prc, waive whatever "legal implications" the prc is worried you might sue them with, take the tests (personally i would retake the entire exam), and get on with your life.

it's sad that what should have been a molehill had grown into a smoky mountain.

had to get that off my chest.

now it's back to my sanctum to meditate on the meaning of life.

lawrence01 · Feb 16, 2007

Hmmm... This is bad. What if the 'common stand' is not to re-take ???

I'm just presuming that this is a possibility since they still need to meet w/ each other w/c means it's in the back of their minds. IMHO.. no need since a re-take was already 'strongly suggested' by CGFNS. The current mess happened because of the no re-take stand last year.. do we need another stubborn stand?? And delay things further??

The Gov't is offering a sponsored re-take again. Take it. Those who re-took the NLE last Dec. all passed and their problems solved. They are now way ahead of their June 2006 colleagues (who did not take the NLE again) as far as working in abroad is concerned.

msdreamchaser · Feb 16, 2007

yup i guess as you have said... the decision has been made already and the cgfns had their stand... now it's our turn to make a stand whether the court is against or pro it... because it is our lives their messing up actually... goodluck to all june 2006 passers... god bless us!

pinoy_guy · Feb 16, 2007

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=49774

us shuts out '06 nursing graduates unless ...

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http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view_article.php?article_id=49845

gov't to appeal cgfns decision on partial retake -- arroyo

'other countries may doubt rp nurses,' says brion

president gloria macapagal-arroyo ordered an "appeal for reconsideration" of the decision of the commission on graduate of foreign nursing schools (cgfns) requiring nurses who passed the june 2006 licensure exams to retake two leaked portions before they can be eligible to migrate to the us.
but in the meantime, the government will comply with the cgfns decision with arroyo promising the nurses who will need to retake tests 3 and 5 of the june board, which were leaked ahead of the exams, financial assistance and a common review center.

the cgfns decision came less than a week after the us approved the philippines' application to be a testing center for the nclex, which is expected to be given in manila within the year.

but the case went to court and the court of appeals ruled for no retake except for those proven by the national bureau of investigation to have benefited from the leak. the supreme court upheld the ca decision, but there is a pending motion for reconsideration.

brion said the retake might be taken voluntarily as not everyone wants to go work in the us. "the retake is not imposed by cgfns. hindi naman tayo inoobliga pero yun ang patakaran nila [we are not being obliged but those are their rules]," he said.

the former court of appeals justice said that should the prc decide to abide by the cgfns decision and administer the voluntary, partial retake, "it is within its jurisdiction" to do so.

asked if those who decide to retake must may any fee, the labor chief said, "lagi namang may bayad [there's always a fee]."

i wonder what happened to the special budget originally proposed?

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http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=49910

warns labor chief

other countries may also demand nursing board retake

may take cue from us

labor secretary arturo brion said on friday he was worried that other countries might imitate the united states in requiring those who passed in the 2006 nursing licensure tests to retake portions whose results were allegedly leaked to exam takers.
"this is okay to me since the retaking would be for those going to the us only, but what if other countries also doubt the results and demand a retake?" brion said in a press conference.
the labor secretary said it would be up to the professional regulatory commission to provide a system for those who wanted to retake.

another group of successful examinees represented by former senator rene saguisag also has a pending motion to cite brion in contempt when he refused to allow the oath-taking of the passers until after the case is resolved with finality.

this group has the right not to retake the nle. just as ichp has the right not to give this group the visascreen certificate.

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http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=49881

'visa hold the worst we expected' -- nursing group

"that was our point from the start. that's what we were worried about. that's what we wanted to prevent," pia bersamin-embuscado, lawyer of the university of sto. tomas faculty of nursing association said on friday.
the philippine daily inquirer sought bersamin-embuscado's comment following the recent decision of the commission on graduates of foreign nursing schools (cgfns) to deny last year's passers of the visascreen certificates.

but now, there was nothing that could be done anymore except to abide by the cgfns decision, the lawyer said.
"it took an international body to tell us that there was something wrong with the exam," she added.
bersamin-embuscado expressed hope that with the future of so many filipino nurses at stake, the supreme court would give them another chance.

ironically, she noted, the high court's decision to deny the ust faculty association's motion for reconsideration to allow the board passers to re-take portions of the exam came a day before the cgfns announced its own decision.

bersamin-embuscado said she received several feedbacks that employers had been accepting the applications of several june 2006 passers.
but they remain just that -- applications.
"no one is hiring them," she said.

lawrence01 · Feb 17, 2007

Govt offers nursing exam retake subsidy.

Some excerpts:

"In a speech at the 2007 International Science Conference of the Phil-American Academy of Science and Engineering in a Makati City hotel, the President said “the government shall provide financial assistance to 2006 nursing board passers for the retake of the exams as called for by the CGFNS [Commission on Graduates on Foreign Nursing Schools].”

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"Ang appealed to sectors concerned not to waste the government’s efforts to salvage the future of the nursing profession by refusing to abide with the requirements of the CGFNS.

Ang said he and representatives of the National Bureau of Investigation tried to persuade officials of National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) that President Arroyo was doing something to address the problems arising from the leakage."

“It might hurt to know, and I don’t want to wash our dirty linen in public, but the truth is we cleaned up their mess at our presentation at the NCSBN,” he said.

Pls. see link for whole article:

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/feb/17/yehey/top_stories/20070217top1.html

czarina · Feb 17, 2007

good if they're looking to do that. they'll lose a lot of revenues if the country can't send more RNs abroad.

the june 06 batch is stuck with 2 bad options, either to re-take or go somewhere else. first one equates to more expenses (review review, and you're losing productive time). second option's not so bad, i'm goin to NZ and it's not the end of the world for me

Rep · Feb 18, 2007

From what I read from all those news sources, I can only conclude that a lot of our Philippines officials had not learned a single lesson from this.

lawrence01 · Feb 20, 2007

Swallow the Bitter Pill

You can read the whole article by clicking this:

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view_article.php?article_id=50371

Rep · Feb 20, 2007

Swallow the Bitter Pill
You can read the whole article by clicking this:
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view_article.php?article_id=50371

I read it yesterday.

lawrence01 · Feb 21, 2007

More news regarding the re-take:

DOLE plans to administer the re-take of tests 3 and 5.

Our alternative plan is for the Department of Labor, through the Board of Nursing, to administer the re-examination of Tests 3 and 5, utilizing the administrative processes of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) such as those on application," Brion told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.

Matthew Lussenhop, spokesman of the United States embassy in Manila, said the VisaScreen Certificate is needed before a health professional who wants to travel to the US can get the appropriate visa.

The CGFNS has indicated the alternative plan was possible, Brion said, adding he only needed to formalize the proposal in writing.

"The results will go directly to DoLE, and the labor department is there because the re-examination is for purposes of enhancing employability, not licensing," he said.

We can read the whole article by clicking this link:

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=50634

pink_20 · Feb 22, 2007

I think its a good alternative.In case cgfns will not change their decision anymore.