The National Bureau of Investigation is filing charges against 17 persons from three review centers for the June nursing licensure examination leakage, which it said did not occur nationwide.

Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella yesterday said government should let the axe fall where it should but maintained that passers of the NLE who did not benefit from the leak should be spared from a retake of the examination.

As of yesterday 37 solons had already signed a resolution asking the President to spare the innocent board passers from having to retake the NLE but he expects the number of signatories to reach more than 100, Puentevella said.

NBI Director Nestor Mantaring told a news conference in Manila yesterday that their investigation showed that the leakage occurred in Baguio City and Manila.

He did not identify the 17 people from three review centers to be charged for the leakage before the Department of Justice.

They will be charged for possible violation of the Professional Regulation Commission Modernization Act for leaking questions covering only tests 3 and 5, Mantaring said.

Puentevella said Mantaring's statement that the NBI did not find evidence of a nationwide leakage appeared to be good news for the passers from Visayas and Mindanao.

The NBI report contains the names of students who registered under two of the three review centers, and is completing the list of those registered under the third one, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita also told a news conference yesterday.

But he admitted that it was hard to determine who benefited from the leak.

Ermita said the Department of Labor and Employment would issue an Administrative Order to the PRC on the proper action to take in connection with the NBI findings.

An order could be issued with or without the ruling of the Court of Appeals.

The CA is hearing pending petitions to annul the results of the June licensure exam and the oath-taking of board passers.

Justice Ruben Reyes said the CA will rule on the case within two weeks.

Government personnel involved in the scandal also face separate administrative cases, he added.

NBI investigation showed that two members of the Board of Nursing were behind the leakage, he said.

The NBI report prompted Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez to form a five-man panel to investigate Board of Nursing members Anesia Dionisio and Virginia Madeja for possible violations of R.A. 8981 and Republic Act No. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, a press release from Malacañang said.*CPG

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