Repository of truth

By Al S. Mendoza

SOMEHOW SEEMINGLY, the euphoria was short-lived.  And I can only commiserate with Gringo de Guzman San Diego, the Mangaldan Kid graduate of the University of Pangasinan who topped the recent board exams for nursing. I’m almost sure Gringo and his fellow passers have been throwing parties here and there from the very day the exams results were announced. 

If gladness turned to sadness, we can only blame their stars for it.

It all began when news about the leakage of questions in the last exams broke out.

First, the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC), the government arm tasked to administer/oversee nursing exams nationwide, brushed off the report as mere rumor.

When the rumor got a backbone through the identity of two suspects in the brewing scam, the PRC reacted by canceling the oath-taking ceremony for the successful examinees originally set for August 22.

Next, when a Review Center headed no less by a UST alumnus said it received what it believed were questions leaked to reviewers/examinees, the PRC invalidated the entire results.

Debates over the PRC’s decision to nullify the exams’ outcome will rage on and on and on.  It may even take forever.

The rage has turned to outrage, especially to the passers who did not benefit from the supposed leakage of test questions.  And I can’t blame them.

Will you?

Those who benefited from the supposed leakage by passing the exams didn’t actually lose that much.  Actually, they lost nothing but time – and a little money for transportation fare and food.

But for those who honestly passed the exams – meaning, they weren’t recipients of leaked questions – it’d be a bitter pill to swallow.

The conspiracy principle is at work here, which is that the fault of one is the fault of all.

But can an examinee who was a recipient of leaked questions be really at fault?

Yes, if he/she knowingly knew that the leaked questions would actually be used in the exams.

But what about if the examinee did not knowingly know that he/she was being given leaked questions? Guilty, too?

No. But that’s not easy to prove.  Bottom line is, only the examinee’s conscience is the ultimate repository of truth.

In this world of crass commercialism, creeping materialism and low regard for morals, how many will admit to a wrongdoing?

Nobody seems to be safe anymore.

In the meantime, the legitimate passers of the last board exams for nursing are suffering. Worse, when the PRC finally orders a re-examination and several – God forbid! – of the previous legitimate passers flunk it, isn’t that a pity?

In any exam, one is never too sure. Even a valedictorian is not assured of topping any board exam, or even passing it for that matter.

Such is life. More often than not, evildoers put do-gooders at their mercy.

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