Impulses
Lie-cense
I have two licenses, one as a teacher and another as a civil engineer. But, the irony is, I got most of my knowledge and skill in both professions through experience, after the formal schooling. So what does a license tell you?
For me, it's simply ego tripping. That explains why I am broke until now.
* * *
Meanwhile, to some, having a PRC number is a ticket to fame, an affirmation to one's craft, or a green light to an illustrious career. This makes sense to me.
But to most people, having a license is an end in itself.
That explains why some resort to cheating. And many dubious schools and shady review centers are making big bucks on this.
* * *
The recent hullabaloo in the nursing board is a case in point.
Hundreds reportedly enrolled in RA Gapuz Review Center and Inress at P13,000 and P10,000, respectively, few weeks before the June exam. In the guise of "final coaching," recent probe say that students were furnished a number of identical Q&A's for Tests III and V.
The result: Nullification of the Nursing Exam Results.
Indeed, former PNA president George Cordero, the center of all these controversy, said it right. He did not pay P7 million and brought two BON (Board of Nursing) members to Switzerland and paid the trip "for nothing."
* * *
I pity those Nursing Board Exam takers who are not in any way privy with the scam in Luzon. I know at least 15 Ilonggo passers and most of them are my former students in physics in Ateneo de Iloilo. I believe that they passed it squarely. Hence, they deserve to take their oath ASAP.
Because of the delay, their dream to work abroad is stalled. No thanks to you Mr. Cordero.
* * *
But let's look at the bright side.
In spite of the obvious leakage in the North, a number of Ilonggo exam takers here still ended up in the Top 10. Not to mention more than a thousand others who passed it clean.
Iloilo, indeed, is a hotbed of education in the country.
* * *
There is a plan to hold a re-take for the Nursing Board to ensure the integrity of the profession and the exam.
Bring it on! I'm sure our Ilonggo graduates will still make it with flying colors.
We just hope that this time it would be for free. Plus students need not creep and crowd the PRC offices anymore.
Deal or no deal!?
* * *
A picture in the Inquirer last Sunday showed a student holding a placard that highlights the word "Lie-cense."
Another one says "June 2006 Phil. Nursing Lie-Ensured Exam..."
And another banner cries "No deal to leakage."
Amen to that!
* * *
In a news report, an ingenious Ilonggo rural activist suggests to consider hunger as a basis to declare Iloilo in "state of calamity."
Certainly, necessity is the mother of all inventions, better yet of all submissions.
* * *
Greenpeace says the Guimaras Oil Spill is a tragedy that is "completely unimaginable."
An "ecological and economic time bomb," some say. The present cleanup, according to Guimaras Gov. JC Rahman Nava, is "like cleaning the wet floor while the faucet is left open."
And to think that this happens only eight months after an oil tanker ran aground in Semirara Island, Antique, what more is to expect very soon?
* * *
An online petition was lodged by a group of young people to GMA, DepEd, and Congress to implement a sex education program that was discontinued after a howl of protest from religious groups, among others.
The request was on a premise that there is a need to further "increase awareness and empower the Filipino youth to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights."
It further stresses that the discontinuation of DepEd's Lesson Guides on Adolescent Reproductive Health in the High School Curriculum "discriminate(s) and hinder(s) the young Filipinos from fully utilizing these rights."
I fully agree. I mean, we need these "life skills" badly and without delay, unless you continue to think in the medieval context.
* * *
The Labor Code is "outmoded and archaic" and should be amended to be more responsive to the demands of labor, employers say.
This is a good example of an oxymoron. Isn't it?
* * *
Bayan says Arroyo did not consider lessons from the great Benigno Aquino experience. Certainly, 23 years after the dictatorship, GMA has nothing to offer but 728 extrajudicial killings and hundreds more of abductions, not to mention the illegal arrests, dispersion of rallyists...the lying, cheating, and stealing.
Maybe she learned more from Marcos.
* * *
Our 14-under lady Bacolod sluggers ended up second in the 2006 Junior League Softball World Series over the weekend. Hey, they might have lost 8-0 against US-South but they did it with pride and gave honor to the country back here.
Three thumbs-up for the Ilonggas.
* * *
Below is a recent text message I received from a friend that I feel is worth your time to smile and brood over:
1. If your father is poor, it is your fate. It it's your father-in-law is poor, it is your fault!
2. How come abbreviated is such a long word?
3. Love thy neighbor, but don't get caught.
4. The wise never marry. When they do, they become otherwise.
5. Love is photogenic. It needs darkness to develop.
6. Your future depends in your dreams. So go to sleep.
7. Children in backseats cause accidents. Accidents in backseats cause children.
8. Save water. Shower with partner!
* * *
Here is a spammed e-mail message that I believe will make us ponder life more.
"Ang tao, kapag namatayan ng asawa, ang tawag balo, ang anak, kapag nawalan ng magulang, ang tawag ulila.
Pero kapag ang magulang, nawalan ng anak, anong tawag?
Wala. Dahil walang salitang makakapagsabi kung anong
sakit ang nararamdaman ng magulang kapag nawalan siya
ng anak"
(Engr. Herman Lagon may be reached through h_lagon@yahoo.com.)