The Board of Nursing has approved the release of the results of the West Negros College board examinees with loads not exceeding 30 units and Related Learning Experience hours, as prescribed in Commission on Higher Education Memo No. 30, Series of 2001.

The decision is contained in BN Resolution No. 4, Series of 2006 dated Feb .7, a copy of which was furnished the DAILY STAR yesterday by the PRC, granting the release of the December 2005 Nurse Licensure Examination results of some examinees.

About 460 WNC nursing graduates have been demanding the release of their examinations results, and most of them have filed petitions before the Regional Trial Courts of Bacolod, Iloilo and Cebu to compel the Board of Nursing and the Professional Regulation Commission to do so.

However, Resolution No. 4 said the release of results of WNC examinees with loads exceeding 30 units will be withheld, and their transcripts of records and papers will be submitted to CHED for evaluation.

The recommendation of the CHED, based on its evaluation, will then be the basis for the Nursing Board and PRC to either release the examinees' board examination results, or to direct the "cancellation of their licensure examination and/or disbarment from future examinations," the resolution said.

The resolution said transcripts of records of WNC examinees were found to contain academic units exceeding those in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing curriculum.

These examinees enrolled in two to three RLE subjects in one semester contrary to CHED Memo No. 30 Series of 2001, requiring only one RLE subject with a prescribed number of hours in one semester, the resolution said.

It also said that subjects for the first course in BSN were offered in the last semester, instead.

The resolution was issued after the WNC College of Nursing dean was called by the Board of Nursing to explain why the curriculum was implemented without complying with CHED Memo No. 30, Series of 2001, it said.

The resolution also said that the CHED and PRC chairpersons agreed jointly on the matter.

Resolution No. 4 was signed by Board of Nursing chairperson Eufemia Octaviano and its members, Remedios Fernandez, Letty Kuan and Anesia Dionisio.

It was approved by PRC chairperson Leonor Tripon-Rosero.

Octaviano yesterday said the resolution will take effect 15 days from its approval date on Feb. 7, 2005.

However, no specific date for the release of the examination results of examinees with 30 units and below was given.

Nelia Gonzales, who has spearheaded the filing a Petition for Mandamus before the Iloilo Regional Trial Court for the release of the WNC nursing graduates board examination results, yesterday called Resolution No. 4 "stupid."

CHED Memo No. 30 dated Aug. 21, 2001, has been superceded by CHED Memo No. 147 issued Oct. 8, 2001 that granted overloading and subject sequencing, Gonzales claimed.

Since the time set by the Iloilo court for the PRC and Board of Nursing to answer their petition for mandamus had lapsed, Gonzales said she will file a motion today for the judge to decide the mandamus case on its merits.

"The resolution of the Nursing Board is illegal because the withholding of the examination results was without legal basis," she said. She also claimed that Resolution No. 4 is not binding and cannot be enforced.

"It cannot legalize the unlawful act performed, it cannot cure the arbitrary and whimsical withholding of examination results, especially for those without overloads," she added.*CPG

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