The Professional Regulations Commission and the Board of Nursing should release the nursing board exam results of the about 460 West Negros College graduates immediately, Bro. Rolando Dizon, former chairman of the Commission on Higher Education, said yesterday.

WNC nursing graduates who passed the exam were unable to take their oaths at rites in Iloilo City Wednesday because of the non- release of their results.

The PRC should not have allowed the WNC nursing graduates to take the exam if they were going to withhold the results, Dizon said.

The WNC students should not be penalized for the college's alleged course overloading, he said.

If any sanctions are imposed for overloading it should be against West Negros College, he said.

Dizon said allowing a student to take 46 units a semester is clearly overloading, the absolute number of units that one should be allowed a semester should only be 27 to 30 units.

There is no way one can do justice for a student by allowing 46 units a semester, that has to be stopped, he said.

The school should be the one that should be made to revise its curriculum, it has a lot of explaining to do and may have to be sanctioned, he said.

WNC legal counsel, Leon Moya, said the matter of alleged overloading has already been looked into by CHED and approved because many nursing students at the college are second coursers.

The issue of overloading is under the jurisdiction of CHED, the work of PRC is to conduct the board exams and release the results, he said.

Its decision to withhold the exam result in the guise of overloading that is a function of CHED means PRC is over stepping its mandate, Moya said.

WNC and more of its nursing graduates whose board exam results have yet to be released are filing another case against the Professional Regulation Commission and the Board of Nursing before the Manila Regional Trial Court, Moya said.

We will be filing a petition for mandamus with damages against PRC, BON and other government agencies involved in the delayed release of the results of the Nursing Licensure Examination they took on Dec. 3 and 4, 2005, he said.

On Monday 146 WNC graduates also filed two petitions for mandamus against PRC and BON before the Iloilo RTC to seek the release of the exam results.

Eufemia Octaviano, Board of Nursing chairman, yesterday told the DAILY STAR said she still could not say when the withheld results will be released.

She said the heads of the PRC and the CHED are discussing the matter and the decision on the release of the results will come from them.

PRC chairman Leonor Rosero could not be reached for comment as of press time.*CPG

back to top