PNA head tagged in exam leakage

A fact-finding body formed by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to investigate the leakage in the June licensure examination for nursing has found Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) president George Cordero to be involved in the anomaly.

In its 25-page report, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR, the panel said there were witnesses who testified that Cordero had knowledge of the leakage prior to the examination, held on June 11 and 12.

A Senate committee investigating the leakage is considering issuing a summons to Cordero to give his side of the story.

The fact-finding panel found that over 100 questions in the third and fifth parts of the exam were leaked to examinees.

Investigators also found that the leaked questions came from manuscripts of two members of the PRC’s nursing board, Anesia Dionisio and Virginia Madeja.

Dionisio, who provided questions in the fifth part of the exam, had her former office secretary, Evelyn Salinas, type up her test questions.

Most of the questions, which appeared in both handwritten and computer printed notes, were distributed to review centers R. Gapuz Review Center and the Institute for Review and Special Studies (INRESS), which is owned by Cordero.

Madeja, on the other hand, was a reviewer for midwives and nurses review classes at INRESS. She prepared questions for test 3.

Cordero also owns the Philippine College of Health and Sciences in Manila.

The STAR called Cordero for his side but he refused to give comment without first consulting a lawyer. He is at present recuperating from surgery at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City.

One witness, Mary Grace Lacanaria, dean of St. Louis University’s college of nursing, told the panel that prior to the examination, Cordero met with 22 deans of mostly low-performing nursing schools and examinees at SM Manila for "final coaching."

Her testimonies were corroborated by examinee Pamela Ortega, who told the fact-finding panel that Cordero asked PCHS graduates and INRESS examinees to attend the "enhancement review class" in a movie house at SM Mall in Manila.

Ortega added that two reviewers of Cordero had "flashed the situations, questions and answers on the screen."

"The reviewers had time to copy them by long hand, laptop computers and portable typewriter," the report showed.

She claimed that during the review class on the night of June 9 at SM Mall, Cordero said "he did not pay P7 million for nothing."

Cordero allegedly claimed that he brought two members of the PRC board of nursing to Switzerland for a conference and paid for their trips. They were board head Eufemia Octaviano and member Dionisio.

But when called by the fact-finding panel to explain, Cordero retracted.

Octaviano has admitted traveling to Switzerland along with Dionisio to attend an international nursing convention. But she denied that Cordero paid for the trip, saying the money came from their own pockets. Cordero was there in his capacity as PNA president, Octaviano said.

The report showed that Cordero told the participants to study the questions "very well because 100 questions from the set would surely come out in the board examination."

Ortega’s statements were backed by one examinee who identified himself only as "Jun", and who was interviewed by ABS-CBN television newscaster Korina Sanchez on her "Bandila" news program.

Jun maintained that Cordero was present during the "enhancement review class" held at the SM movie house.

He said he was not sure what Cordero’s role there was, except to say he was the one who welcomed the examinees and made a roll call.

Jun claimed that when they were invited to the "enhancement review class," they did not expect they were being given the actual exam questions.

He said the questions were presented on the movie screen with a Powerpoint presentation. No hand-outs were given. Each examinee had to write down the questions.

Jun said he came forward and testified because his conscience bothered him. He appealed to other examinees who attended the so-called review class at the SM mall movie theater to also come forward.

"Siguro kung gusto talaga nila ang propesyong nursing, dapat alam natin yong salitang responsibilidad. Responsibilidad kasi natin ang pasyente at buhay ng tao ang hahawakan natin in the future (If we really want to be in the nursing profession, we should also know the word responsibility. Patients will become our responsibility and the lives of other people will be in our hands in the future)," he added.

The members of the investigating panel were PRC Commissioner Renato Valdecantos; lawyer Pharmason Mamalo, head of the PRC’s legal department; Vladimir Pelaez, a former legal assistant; director Amelia Empaynado, head of licensure division; and Gina Consignado, of the rating division.

Cordero figured prominently in yesterday’s Senate inquiry, conducted by the committee on civil service and government reorganization, into the exam leakage.

Committee chairman Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said he will consider summoning Cordero following a recommendation from Sen. Richard Gordon.

Two examinees testified at the inquiry that Cordero was the source of the leakage. One of them, Ortega, was one of the main sources in the fact-finding panel’s report.

Letty Kuan, a member of the PRC’s nursing board, said Ortega blew the whistle because of her conscience.

The other student, Dennis Bautista, corroborated Ortega’s testimony about the review class held at the SM movie theater. He said he approached Cordero at least thrice and discussed the possibility of conducting new exams when reports of a suspected leakage began making headlines.

Cordero said new exams were not possible because of the expense, according to Bautista.

The National Bureau of Investigation, which is looking into the scandal, suspects that the examiners were the sources of the leakage. Regional director Elfren Meneses, head of the NBI’s anti-fraud and computer crimes division, said they are following that lead.

"It seemed that the manuscript was the source of the leakage and the manuscript should be in the possession of the examiner," he said. — With Marvin Sy, Evelyn Macairan, Aurea Calica