'Extortion,' overcrowding mar oathtaking of nurses

[pinoy_guy]

'extortion,' overcrowding mar oathtaking of nurses

10/02/2007 | 03:21 pm

radio dzec reported tuesday that the oathtaking at the araneta coliseum in quezon city started nearly two hours late as security guards turned away nurses and parents who came in droves to the site.

several parents who were turned away complained that they even paid p300 to p400 for the tickets sold by the professional regulations commission (prc).

. . .

"obviously there was some misrepresentation there. we'll see if we can coordinate with prc chairwoman leonor rosero or executive secretary eduardo ermita," he [health secretary francisco duque iii] said.

a prc official interviewed by gma news said the ticket fees were necessary because the government has to rent a suitable venue for the affair.

jose beltran, one of the parents who were turned away, said he and his family members were not given receipts for the tickets, which he said were marked "complimentary."

if it is a legitimate fee, they could just as easily print the actual prices on the ticket...and do the proper accounting.

let's assume the ticket price is only php 300.

the maximum total of seats is 16,035.

(i feel the prc squeezed in more than this number of seats during our oath-taking--the main floor was filled with foldable chairs leaving only the small central dais for the prc bon officials.)

16,035 x php 300 is php 4,810,500 (us$ 106,900).

i think a news article posted the rental for araneta coliseum for 2 hours as php 10,000 (us$ 200). let's double this--php 20,000 (us$ 400).

profit = php 4,810,500 - php 20,000 = php 4,790,500

(us$ 106,900 - us$ 400 = us$ 106,500)

so for the oath-taking on tuesday, that's a cool php 9,581,000 (us$ 212,911) as the oath-taking was done twice in a day.

remember, the money is not accounted for as the tickets are "complimentary."

not bad for a day's work.

multiply this figure by 2--as there're 2 nursing board exams/oath-taking ceremonies in manila each year: php 19,162,000 (us$ 425,822).

but wait, there's more--there are oath-taking ceremonies in other cities outside manila too.

now multiply this figure by the number of other professions, by the number of years this had been going on...

some parents who were turned away consoled themselves by buying t-shirts sold by hawkers outside the coliseum. the shirts were emblazoned with the message, "anak ko nurse na (my child is now a nurse)" and were priced at p120 each.

this would make any nurse weep.

the sanctity of the oath-taking ceremony reduced to the level of a circus shop souvenir t-shirt.

the confusion over the "overcrowding" and the "extra" tickets delayed the start of the oath-taking to 10 a.m., even as some of the nurses were not able to take their oaths.

the figures i use above are even lower than the actual "profit" as the prc had printed "extra" tickets.

imagine paying for something labelled as "complimentary" and not being able to enjoy what you paid for.

[suzanne4, RN]

Thanks for posting this, just more proof of why I disagree with how they do things there, they continue to drive more stakes into things.

And for no reason, but until the people there start to protest over it, they will just continue as things have been done all along.

[akoitoh, LPN, LVN]

actually i attend the oath taking in araneta,, i think the PRC rent the coliseum 8am-5pm, they also gave a souvenir program book for each nurses..for me the problem is not with the prc but the new nurses,i think one of the reason of delayed was the nurses, they are waiting so long outside the coliseum for their friends.

there is also a Special Oath taking ceremony on Oct.16 in the PRC auditorium for those didnt attend the mass oath taking...

[lenjoy03, RN]

The place was really crowded! Many parents were not able to get in the Coliseum. Some even came from the province! The PRC were a little bit disorganized because they should have informed the public that student should bring only one parent. What they did was sell more tickets not minding if all can be occupied in the coliseum! They should have estimate the amount of tickets to be sold to control the people who can go there.

I'm glad it was over! One good news from my school. Our former Dean and MMC's former NUrsing head division is now the new member of BON. Dra. Amelia Rosales! Actually I only saw her in person once! In our capping ceremony. hehehe.....

[leiza]

complimentary tickets are supposed to be complimentary... and having that huge profit by the PRC or the BON would be such a shame if it is all true. I hope people will realize how things can get sleazy... and try to do something about it.

[ianjel]

i myself didnt attend the oathtaking because they are just really after the money. you see, just right after the board exam results were out, i came over to prc and asked for the ticket for the oath taking, and they told me that "strictly there should be only 1 guest" and then several days after, i returned because my surname was scheduled to get the board rating, and i have this friend of mine who'll buy tickets, and when i accompanied her, i was shocked to hear that the newly registered nurses' number of guest is not limited. they can buy as many ticket as they want.. gosh! so i decided not to attend because i have experienced already how araneta becomes very crowded every UAAP(basketball game) finals, but during these games, the tickets were limited so that everybody will have their place in the araneta unlike this oath taking in which my friend bought 3 tickets, imagine they should have sold tickets only up to seating capacity of araneta coliseum!

[yonchRN]

i myself didn't attend that oath taking ceremony.. good for me, i was able to save myself 700 pesos..

you might want to check these videos from that said event. tHese were taken by my friend

[Lightblue, RN]

actually i attend the oath taking in araneta,, i think the PRC rent the coliseum 8am-5pm, they also gave a souvenir program book for each nurses..for me the problem is not with the prc but the new nurses,i think one of the reason of delayed was the nurses, they are waiting so long outside the coliseum for their friends.

there is also a Special Oath taking ceremony on Oct.16 in the PRC auditorium for those didnt attend the mass oath taking...

Were you really present in araneta? Because if you were, you would not blame our fellow oathtakers for the poorly managed and executed event. Those nurses and their families would not have been outside if there are still available seats in the first place. Those paid seats should still be available regardless if they were late or not. Please do not be a blind witness to what really happened, thus twisting the real story.

I was able to talk to one of the employees of the coliseum who was stationed at the gate and he apologized for the inconvenience the prc was responsible for. He said it was the prc who handled the tickets, had it been them, we would not have experienced such hassle because they would have assigned seat numbers to control and limit the number of people as is their usual procedure. I guess that's a valid enough evidence that it was the prc's fault and not the nurses'.

[w_padre, LPN, LVN]

Were you really present in araneta? Because if you were, you would not blame our fellow oathtakers for the poorly managed and executed event. Those nurses and their families would not have been outside if there are still available seats in the first place. Those paid seats should still be available regardless if they were late or not. Please do not be a blind witness to what really happened, thus twisting the real story.

I was able to talk to one of the employees of the coliseum who was stationed at the gate and he apologized for the inconvenience the prc was responsible for. He said it was the prc who handled the tickets, had it been them, we would not have experienced such hassle because they would have assigned seat numbers to control and limit the number of people as is their usual procedure. I guess that's a valid enough evidence that it was the prc's fault and not the nurses'.

I think ARaneta is not that big enough to accommodate nurses. I had my first thought of having my oathtaking in Manila but upon learning that it'll be held in Araneta, I immediately changed my mind. 4 years ago it was held in Manila Hotel. now because of the surging numbers of new nurses, they can't be accommodated anymore. I really don't agree with the high cost of that event. Here in our province, we paid PhP 3000 (1800 for the cost of the event including PNA registration + 1200 for 1 1/2 days seminar that PNA will be handling). I Just want to experience it because it is once in a lifetime event. Btw, they changed the venue here and as of yesterday, they scheduled the event on a private Highschool building (probably the gymnasium which I suppose is not the best place for this once in a lifetime experience).

[akoitoh, LPN, LVN]

we are in 2nd batch...It also printed in the ticket that it is "Free Seating", meaning first come first serve, and we all know at first that one guest only,and some of my friends are all alone because we predict what will happen and some my friends in first batch, they know that the ticket is "sold out" still they looking for it.. im not defending the prc but we should be open and see both sides, and in our opinion both party should be blame of it...we're not perfect :)

move on...