Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella Saturday said the Manila newspaper that wrote an editorial Friday branding him as having a "perverse outlook" is owned by Dante Ang, the man who has been at the forefront of the call for a retake of the June 2006 Philippine nursing licensure examination for passers who want to go to the United States.

Ang, chairman of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas and former publisher of The Manila Times, recently convinced the US nursing board authorities to hold the National Council Licensure Examinations (NCLEX) in the Philippines.

The Manila Times editorial on Friday scored Puentevella for plodding on with his appeal to overturn the decision of the CGFNS requiring Filipino nurses wanting to work in the United States to retake Test 3 and 5 of the June 2006 examination following reports of a leakage in the tests.

The editorial asked: "Will Rep. Monico Puentevella of Bacolod ever stop making it worse for the Philippines and the June 2006 nursing board examinees?

"By plodding on with his appeal to overturn the decision of the US Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools, he is painting an ugly image of the Filipinos as a dense people who can't understand plain English."

It pointed up that CGFNS made it clear weeks earlier that no VisaScreen certificate will be given to any PRC-licensed nurse who belongs to the June 2006 nursing licensure exam batch unless the nurse retakes and passes Tests 3 and 5.

The Manila Times editorial said Puentevella is "not only guilty of not understanding plain English and failing to see reality accurately. He has been reported to have said that the CGFNS came to take notice of the leakage scandal, because some of us Filipinos made so much noise about it.'

'UNDER THE RUG'

"That mentality reveals a mind that lacks respect for the law and basic ethical norms, a mind that prefers crimes to be swept under the rug and the morally-upright June 2006 examinees and for everyone to help in the cover-up, and a mind that underestimates the alertness and efficiency of the CGFNS," the editorial said.

Puentevella Saturday stressed that he was only trying his best to do what other Philippine officials tasked with attending to the needs of the nurses should have done in the first place - done their very best to try to help the passers of the June 2006 Philippine nursing examination.

The only one who does not appreciate the trip he made to the United States to meet with the CGFNS officials is Dante Ang, he said.

Ang has always been for the retake, it is to be expected that his newspaper would lambasts his efforts, Puentevella said.

He said that, when he held a dialog with the CGFNS officials in the United States they mentioned items published in the Manila Times on the June 2006 examination.

They only mentioned the Manila Times, that means they had contact with Ang, he said.

The solon said he is still looking at the possibility of asking the US congress to review the CGFNS decision if the President gives him the go signal.

Meanwhile, he said the retake of Tests 3 and 5 by passers who want to work in the United States is a done deal since the President has ordered it.

"If president ordered a retake so be it," Puentevella said.

CHANGE THE LAW?

"What does he intend to do? Communicate to US congressmen and senators his wish to change the law and remove the power from the CGFNS to determine who gets the VisaScreen certificate? Get the US Congress to pass a law exempting batch June 2006 from the operation of the US laws?" the Manila Times editorial asked.

"We are sure few American senators and congressmen know about the retake problem of batch June 2006. We are certain that when Representative Puentevella's appeal reaches them, many will ask: "What do these Filipinos want-exempt them from the consequences of cheating in a nursing exam?" it added.

Puentevella said he wanted to raise the matter with the US congress to try to prevent a similar incident from happening to Filipino nurses seeking employment in the United States.*CPG

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