My first recollection of leakages came from my frosh year in high school. I remember having heard a report that one of our batchmates got in (I guess broke into) the mimeographing room and took copies of our periodical tests. I just am not sure if the girl spread the test questions around, but what I do remember is she was sanctioned for that. Another memory also came from high school, but now in my sophie year. A class which took a subject in an earlier period had a long test. A girl from that class told a friend who will be taking the same subject in a later period, some items she remembered while she was taking the test. The friend looked the answers up, told a couple of classmates, and was caught and apprehended a few days later.
As I look back at these juvenile acts of dishonesty, I must admit, they sound a bit funny. Amusing even. Everyone knows how things are in high school. Teenage girl drama. The occasional truancy. An inappropriate relationship. And a bit of cheating, whichever form it may take. I know and I’m telling because there should be no hypocrites in this blog. Those girls who cheated back then and all the others who I knew did similar things, I don’t know where they are now or what they’re up to. My guess is they’re somewhere in the north hemisphere, with their hotshot boyfriends, working regular eight-to-five jobs, and living their own sex-in-the-city-ish, episodes. I said that because I also know that they got away with cheating and having committed a potentially life-damaging teen student crime didn’t actually ruin their future. What they did was fine with me then and it still is now. No biggie.
Cheating in a licensure exam, however, is a whole other garbage pile. It’s bigger, damper, hotter, and stinkier. Something which will make you cringe, gag, and puke.
In the know
I have read the newspaper articles and watched the TV news reports and this is what I know. The nursing board licensure examinations were administered last June 11 and 12. One test from each of the two days of examinations looked and felt really familiar to many takers. Apparently, a couple of days before the exams, a nursing board exam review center called INRESS Review Center conducted a “final coaching”, as one article had put it, at an SM Manila cinema. During this “final class”, there was a Powerpoint presentation of different situations and test questions with the corresponding suggested answers. No hand-outs were provided so the students had to write down all they could possibly copy. Inress is owned by no other than Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) president George Cordero, who has since stepped down from his post as president after being suspected because of the most obvious reasons. A student who attended the class at SM and made copies of her notes during that class, forwarded the materials to another review center called R.A. Gapuz. This review center, knowing no better but presumed innocent, distributed the materials to its reviewees. And now, two months later, no one has been apprehended. The investigation is still ongoing. The board passers have already taken their oaths. But the truth remains beneath someone’s ass, the particular ass still unknown to the public: that the whole thing was a hoax, tainted, and smeared with kadayaan.
Ass, er, Man of the hour
George Cordero. Ahh…what a personality. Some heard him say that he didn’t shell out P7 million for nothing. Other speculate that he bribed both the PRC and BON on separate occasions. “It was a clear case of conflict of interest. George Cordero was the president of the PNA, which nominates members of the Board of Nursing (BON), the group that prepares the questions for the nursing board examinations.” (PDI) Oh yeah, he also was the president and owner of PCHS, a college that offers nursing, and Inress, a review center for the nursing boards, both of which, as we all know, are institutions that bank on the number of board topnotchers and passers they produce. Did I mention that this Cordero fella’s son also was an examinee last June? Well, the boy was. Conflict of interest, you say? DUH.
Where there’s smoke, there’s no fire
Apart from Cordero’s very apparent conflict of interest shit, there are a few other things which, to my surprise, came by everybody without anyone noticing the malice in any of it.
1. “Final coaching” at SM cinema. A pre-week review class, I’ve heard of. But at a mall cinema? Wait, that calls for multiple--??? I guess it has, since then, truly turned into one blockbuster hit.
2. Hand-written materials. I don’t know with everyone else, but when I get a hold of something that looks as unofficial as that, I’d readily realize that shit like that will always hit the fan.
3. Basta or the response given by the review masters during the “final coaching” when the reviewees doubted the suggested answers shown in the presentation. If I were the one who sat there, I’d be scared to death that I wasted my time and money for a damn review class only that only spoke of memorizing key words in tests rather that critical thinking and analysis.
It’s more like when someone farts and others smell it. After the stench disturbs their nasal activity, they speculate of who the perpetuator is, gossip a bit, act nonchalantly, and never tell another soul. Embarrassed of other people knowing that someone has a gas problem or simply that they were farted at. There were all these tell-tale signs, but still, the tainted events unfolded and took a month to completely blow up in everybody’s faces.
Two-faced heroes
You see, it’s as simple as this, I’m sure. These examinees knew that the materials being given to them were sophisticated cheat sheets. Only an idiot, and perhaps a liar, would insist that they thought those were regular test pointers. They chose to ignore it then and proceeded to take the exam with the unfair advantage to boot. But now that all hell has broken loose, “brave souls” have suddenly risen to the challenge claiming that they did know of the materials and were in fact victimized by all that has happened. Take this Pamela Ortega as an example, the girl who passed the copied notes from the “final coaching” session to the RA Gapuz review center. She “voluntarily came out in the open in the midst of this leakage news because her conscience was bothering her and she wanted to tell the truth…[members of the BON] thanked Pamela for her good act and for the information.” Sure, the info is useful now. Just imagine if she came out with it earlier. Way earlier. If I were BON, I won’t be thanking her at all. Grabe naman, nagamit mo nang lahat yung materials at pumasa ka na din, nung biglang nagkakontrobersiya, ikaw pa ang gusto magpakabayani? Tigilan mo nga ako.
True victims
Of course, not all examinees are guilty. There are surely those who intently burnt their eyebrows and took the test with a clean conscience and no unfair advantage. They are the ones who truly deserve everyone’s, “Ay, kawawa naman” comments. They deserve not just that, but also their license, others’ respect, and the apologies of all of those who did cheat.
Sad and painful truth
However there may be innocent souls dragged in this mess, the fact remains that no one can accurately prove whether or not an examinee is guilty. In the eyes of everyone else who have stood by this issue, these June passers are questionable as a whole. Though it is wrong to generalize, we have been left with no other option. The Court of Appeals is now urging the invalidation of the oaths that have been taken by the June passers. (These PRC half-wits…they proceeded with the oath-taking ceremonies even when it has been utterly obvious that doing so will make matters worse and more complicated.)
Everyone is being given three options:
1. A retake of the whole exam
2. A retake of just the 2 tests that were in question
3. An invalidation of the 2 tests and a recomputation of grades excluding the results from these 2 tests
Based on experience, a retake is unimaginable. After finding out that I passed my board exams, I remember feeling completely free. It was almost like knowing the exact moment my brain diffused and got rid of the excess information it was storing for four years. It felt great. If someone had told me that a retake was to be enforced, I would’ve strangled the bearer of that bad news.
The cancellation of the two tests is also disappointing. What if these were the strong subjects of some examinees? If these were invalidated, their rate would rely on their weaker subjects. Some who originally passed could fail. And some who originally failed could suddenly pass.
It’s a lose-lose situation, really. So what can we do about it? Nothing. The foul has been committed. All we can do now is wait and see how the rest of this trash is dumped. What we can do is absorb the things we have learned from this mishap and not allow something like it make a rerun in the future. The existence and fate of future bad-ass Cordero’s, two-faced heroes, and true victims have become our responsibility. If this part of history repeats itself, we should demote ourselves to a fourth-world country. We might look progressive, but our mentality is still degenerative. Bulok, kumbaga.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Saturday, August 19, 2006
The Non-Issue of Whether or Not God Exists
everything is relative. that is what i have come to believe. as cliche as it is true...beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. beauty and i guess everything else as well.
so if i say i believe in God, i do not expect everyone in this world to have the same faith. some might worship Allah. others Buddha. and i in Kuya Jess. i would be committing such an elaborate fallacy if i say, "it's either you believe in my god or you don't." if you are of a different religion, i don't see mine as better or superior. and if you suppose that you don't have a god, i also don't see any fault in that. no one stands over the other. we are just that--different.
it is just too unfortunate that others see this difference as an edge or weakness over and of another. why do we have to rank ourselves in terms of what or who we believe in? why do we have to say things that are obviously uncalled for? why do we have to downplay others just because we don't see things the way they do? you could throw rude comments all you want...but i don't think it will make my stand, or anyone else's belief for that matter, much less correct. it won't even make things in this world more peaceful. instead, by doing so, you will have just created unnecessary warfare. you see, the significance of believing or not believing in a god does not lie on the correctness or fallibility of things. what is, though, is how a person, through experiences and maybe even research, ended up as a believer or non-believer.
what's even more unfortunate, if not just outright ridiculous, is that the ones who see themselves as better or others, weaker--for whatever reason--are the ones who get violent when others tell THEM off. i have avoided debates on religion and atheism for the sole reason that these people exist: those who join debates not to learn from others and impart ideas, but just spew fancy english and unorthodox connotations for the heck of it. The people who have closed minds, but also expect everyone else to maintain an open one just for them. The special ones who do all the talking but never have time to listen.
i can live my life avoiding these debates. it may even do me well. less stress. less nonsense. for me, everything is relative. faith and belief will depend on different things. because of this, i can easily respect and embrace our religious differences. what i find unsettling about all this is that many people just can't do that. for them, fallacies make more sense. they prefer name-calling.
for the first time, i will let myself be sucked in by this non-issue. this unnecessary ruckus. for a change. hmmm...where should i begin?
i found time and exerted much effort on this blog because i read somewhere (well, in another person's blog, actually) that people who believe in a god are weak and could not handle life on their own. this is the statement that brought this rage on. i simply could not see the logic in it. Okay, so i am someone who believes in God, so should we also conclude that i am weak? NON-SEQUITUR. Just when did having faith become a sign of weakness? look at me. i believe in God. but can you honestly say, to my face, that i am weak? i have dealt with financial problems. I have experienced my fair share of academic woes. I have disappointed people and fallen short of expectations. I have overcome the death of my father. now tell me...ma'am...who is weaker? you or me?
all those times i felt so down and out, i locked myself away from the world and, admittedly, i prayed. the prayers did not make me feel weak or selfish. if anything, it made me even stronger. the fact that i am still here is a miracle in itself.
when i pray, i don't see it as selfishly demanding for good things to happen for me or for life to drastically rid itself of all pain and suffering. i pray because i need to talk to a friend. to a brother. to a father. to someone who won't judge and just listen to what i have to say. maybe that's the thing. while i see Him as friend, his detractors see him as a "superior being". (reminds so much of pilate and Jesus' crucifixion. the roman soldiers were all pissed and thrown off by the idea that others see Jesus as the king of the jews, that they crowned him with thorns and put a sign over his head, sarcastically acknowledging that he indeed was the king of the jews). it's not a matter of asking a genie for things. it's more of needing someone to just lend an ear.
it is easier to be selfish in our prayers--i want this, give me that, i'm taking that for myself--because it takes a whole new understanding to realize that it feels better to pray for others. that selflessness brings more fullfilment than our own achievements. for someone to assume that all our prayers are for ourselves implies that that person has done the very same thing.
they say that these prayers only give hope and hope is nothing without actions. indeed. but without hope, we will all be walking around aimlessly, having no clue of what we want to achieve or are capable of achieving.
if i achieve something, i readily thank God not because i don't accept my accomplishments, but rather, i acknowledge his role in my life and his influence in my decisions. it is like thanking friends for their moral boosts and family for their support and love. you will never, EVER, see an academy award winner go up the stage and give an acceptance speech with, "i thank me. i did it on my own." this is because we hardly really do anything on our own. we always acknowledge that others--family, friends, acquaintances, and God--have contributed to, if not mostly responsible for, our successes. otherwise, we will have become selfish aliens who think that a man (or woman) is an island.
yes, we are responsible for our own lives. we have the power to excel and fail. but we can never say that we can function on our own. even a car needs gas. a bulb, electricity. us, others. and i need God and my loved ones.
now, if i choose not to blame God when something goes wrong, it is not because i feel that i CANNOT blame him. i can. in fact, other believers do. we could always say that nothing's our fault and hold him accountable. again, we all can. but i just don't. it's owning up to what i was responsible for. isn't blame a tool for selfishness as well? a backdoor for cowards?
as you may have already noticed, i am not here to convince you to have the same faith as mine. i have never been that type of person. i, too, believe in a greater plan. and part of that greater plan is finding your own way to your own faith. i'm not going to tell you to look around and ask you who do you think created all these. if all goes well, you'll realize it on your own. no will have to force you into anything.
simply put, we're manifestations of God's wonder and miracles. and i find no problem if you don't see yourself as a miracle. (so what and how do you see yourself, may i ask? oh, oo nga pla...you're an island who doesn't need anyone in order for you to function)
everything is relative to me so it's always going to be fine with me even if you don't believe in God or if you don't have a god or if you say that there is no God. just don't think you that ARE a god, much more your own supreme being. don't say others are weak and imply that you're better. don't think that since you are responsible for your own life and life seeks its own, you don't need others to help you function. and don't say that because you don't believe in OUR God, you don't fear death. c'mon who are you kidding? you fear death. if you really don't, ma'am, oh brave and magnificent ma'am...don't go to work. don't earn money.'wag ka nang kumain. let yourself go. tutal, di ka naman takot mamatay eh. go ahead, enlighten me with another fallacy.
***pardon the incoherences. it has been hard to be politically correct and make this piece as far from a personal attack as possible. i would like it to sound as if i'm talking to detractors in general.
so if i say i believe in God, i do not expect everyone in this world to have the same faith. some might worship Allah. others Buddha. and i in Kuya Jess. i would be committing such an elaborate fallacy if i say, "it's either you believe in my god or you don't." if you are of a different religion, i don't see mine as better or superior. and if you suppose that you don't have a god, i also don't see any fault in that. no one stands over the other. we are just that--different.
it is just too unfortunate that others see this difference as an edge or weakness over and of another. why do we have to rank ourselves in terms of what or who we believe in? why do we have to say things that are obviously uncalled for? why do we have to downplay others just because we don't see things the way they do? you could throw rude comments all you want...but i don't think it will make my stand, or anyone else's belief for that matter, much less correct. it won't even make things in this world more peaceful. instead, by doing so, you will have just created unnecessary warfare. you see, the significance of believing or not believing in a god does not lie on the correctness or fallibility of things. what is, though, is how a person, through experiences and maybe even research, ended up as a believer or non-believer.
what's even more unfortunate, if not just outright ridiculous, is that the ones who see themselves as better or others, weaker--for whatever reason--are the ones who get violent when others tell THEM off. i have avoided debates on religion and atheism for the sole reason that these people exist: those who join debates not to learn from others and impart ideas, but just spew fancy english and unorthodox connotations for the heck of it. The people who have closed minds, but also expect everyone else to maintain an open one just for them. The special ones who do all the talking but never have time to listen.
i can live my life avoiding these debates. it may even do me well. less stress. less nonsense. for me, everything is relative. faith and belief will depend on different things. because of this, i can easily respect and embrace our religious differences. what i find unsettling about all this is that many people just can't do that. for them, fallacies make more sense. they prefer name-calling.
for the first time, i will let myself be sucked in by this non-issue. this unnecessary ruckus. for a change. hmmm...where should i begin?
i found time and exerted much effort on this blog because i read somewhere (well, in another person's blog, actually) that people who believe in a god are weak and could not handle life on their own. this is the statement that brought this rage on. i simply could not see the logic in it. Okay, so i am someone who believes in God, so should we also conclude that i am weak? NON-SEQUITUR. Just when did having faith become a sign of weakness? look at me. i believe in God. but can you honestly say, to my face, that i am weak? i have dealt with financial problems. I have experienced my fair share of academic woes. I have disappointed people and fallen short of expectations. I have overcome the death of my father. now tell me...ma'am...who is weaker? you or me?
all those times i felt so down and out, i locked myself away from the world and, admittedly, i prayed. the prayers did not make me feel weak or selfish. if anything, it made me even stronger. the fact that i am still here is a miracle in itself.
when i pray, i don't see it as selfishly demanding for good things to happen for me or for life to drastically rid itself of all pain and suffering. i pray because i need to talk to a friend. to a brother. to a father. to someone who won't judge and just listen to what i have to say. maybe that's the thing. while i see Him as friend, his detractors see him as a "superior being". (reminds so much of pilate and Jesus' crucifixion. the roman soldiers were all pissed and thrown off by the idea that others see Jesus as the king of the jews, that they crowned him with thorns and put a sign over his head, sarcastically acknowledging that he indeed was the king of the jews). it's not a matter of asking a genie for things. it's more of needing someone to just lend an ear.
it is easier to be selfish in our prayers--i want this, give me that, i'm taking that for myself--because it takes a whole new understanding to realize that it feels better to pray for others. that selflessness brings more fullfilment than our own achievements. for someone to assume that all our prayers are for ourselves implies that that person has done the very same thing.
they say that these prayers only give hope and hope is nothing without actions. indeed. but without hope, we will all be walking around aimlessly, having no clue of what we want to achieve or are capable of achieving.
if i achieve something, i readily thank God not because i don't accept my accomplishments, but rather, i acknowledge his role in my life and his influence in my decisions. it is like thanking friends for their moral boosts and family for their support and love. you will never, EVER, see an academy award winner go up the stage and give an acceptance speech with, "i thank me. i did it on my own." this is because we hardly really do anything on our own. we always acknowledge that others--family, friends, acquaintances, and God--have contributed to, if not mostly responsible for, our successes. otherwise, we will have become selfish aliens who think that a man (or woman) is an island.
yes, we are responsible for our own lives. we have the power to excel and fail. but we can never say that we can function on our own. even a car needs gas. a bulb, electricity. us, others. and i need God and my loved ones.
now, if i choose not to blame God when something goes wrong, it is not because i feel that i CANNOT blame him. i can. in fact, other believers do. we could always say that nothing's our fault and hold him accountable. again, we all can. but i just don't. it's owning up to what i was responsible for. isn't blame a tool for selfishness as well? a backdoor for cowards?
as you may have already noticed, i am not here to convince you to have the same faith as mine. i have never been that type of person. i, too, believe in a greater plan. and part of that greater plan is finding your own way to your own faith. i'm not going to tell you to look around and ask you who do you think created all these. if all goes well, you'll realize it on your own. no will have to force you into anything.
simply put, we're manifestations of God's wonder and miracles. and i find no problem if you don't see yourself as a miracle. (so what and how do you see yourself, may i ask? oh, oo nga pla...you're an island who doesn't need anyone in order for you to function)
everything is relative to me so it's always going to be fine with me even if you don't believe in God or if you don't have a god or if you say that there is no God. just don't think you that ARE a god, much more your own supreme being. don't say others are weak and imply that you're better. don't think that since you are responsible for your own life and life seeks its own, you don't need others to help you function. and don't say that because you don't believe in OUR God, you don't fear death. c'mon who are you kidding? you fear death. if you really don't, ma'am, oh brave and magnificent ma'am...don't go to work. don't earn money.'wag ka nang kumain. let yourself go. tutal, di ka naman takot mamatay eh. go ahead, enlighten me with another fallacy.
***pardon the incoherences. it has been hard to be politically correct and make this piece as far from a personal attack as possible. i would like it to sound as if i'm talking to detractors in general.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Can't Blame Me For Trying
As a former publication staffer, I find it unacceptable that my post-graduate works almost always have to start with something like, "It has been a while since I last wrote something" or "I sure have to write more often."
I am a writer. But I guess I forgot I am one. I can't settle for sporadic journal entries expressing heartache and disappointment. I have to write something that matters not just to me, but also to some other people out there.
I know I have something to say. I know I can somehow effect change. Whatever you think of how and what I choose to write about, you still can't blame me for trying.
I am a writer. But I guess I forgot I am one. I can't settle for sporadic journal entries expressing heartache and disappointment. I have to write something that matters not just to me, but also to some other people out there.
I know I have something to say. I know I can somehow effect change. Whatever you think of how and what I choose to write about, you still can't blame me for trying.
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