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Feb 22, 2008

Junkyard owner’s girl is No. 1 in Nursing Board exam

NLE Results December 2007



February 22, 2008 06:42:00
Tina Santos
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines -- She did not expect to top the nursing licensure exams.

“Who would not want to be on top? But the exam was really difficult. I was satisfied with the thought of just having a passing grade,” Zandra Mae Zabaza Bongco said Thursday.

The daughter of a junkyard owner, who mainly sells used plastic bottles, emerged No. 1 among the more than 67,000 nursing graduates who took the recent nursing board exams.

Bongco, a consistent honor student since her elementary school days, said she learned of the good news through her teachers and classmates, who kept texting and congratulating her the whole day Thursday.

“It still hasn’t sunk in yet. I still cannot believe that I made it,” Bongco, the younger of two siblings, said.

“In fact, I’m more worried now about my friends. I haven’t heard if they passed the exam or not,” she said.

To surprise parents

She would have wanted to surprise her parents with the good news. “They’re still clueless. But they will surely know once your photographer gets here,” she said, laughing.

Bongco ranked second in her batch at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila but failed to graduate cum laude.

This, however, became her motivation to strive hard and “redeem” herself during the December 2007 licensure exams for nurses.

“I felt I had to redeem myself because I did not get it (cum laude),” she told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “But I’m not bitter. That just pushed me to do my best during the board.”

The 21-year-old said her professors inspired her because she knew that they were expecting more from her.

“They were hoping that I would graduate cum laude. So in a way I felt indebted to them,” Bongco said.

Divine help, rigorous review

She attributed her success to Divine Providence. “I just prayed really, really hard.”

What helped her prepare for the exams was her rigorous six-month review session.

She has no secret formula for excellence. “They call me ‘cramming lady’ because I usually crammed when I was a student.”

Without a scholarship, Bongco’s parents would have found it difficult to send her to the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila to take up nursing.

Scholar

For four years, the Francisco M. Bautista Scholarship Foundation, which also owns the St. Peter Funeral Homes in Quezon City, sent Bongco through school.

Now that she is a nurse, Bongco feels her life will change for the better. “Maybe it will be easier for me to find a job,” she said.

She said her immediate plan is to attend seminars that “would improve my credentials.”

“In the future, I might also pursue a medical degree,” Bongco said.

“Maybe someday,” she said when asked if she had plans of seeking her fortune abroad. “But not in the near future.”

CoA tells CHEd: Shut down bad nursing schools

February 22, 2008 18:43:00
Jerry E. Esplanada
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines -- The Commission on Audit has urged the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to phase out the nursing programs in colleges and universities whose graduates perform badly in state licensure examinations.

In a report to acting CHEd Chair Romulo Neri, the CoA said it was necessary for the CHEd to exercise its regulatory function to “maintain and protect standards set to ensure the quality of nursing graduates.”

“From 2001 to 2005, only 111 of 263 nursing schools nationwide managed to have 50 percent of their nursing graduates pass the licensure examinations (conducted by the Professional Regulation Commission),” said the report, a copy of which was obtained by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

Citing records of the Management Information Service Division of CHEd, the CoA reported that 35 of the 111 nursing schools (with a 50-percent passing rate) were located in Metro Manila.

The CoA did not identify the schools but said they were located in the following regions: Ilocos (1); Cagayan Valley (6); Central Luzon (8); Southern Tagalog (8); Bicol (3); Western Visayas (9); Central Visayas (10); Eastern Visayas (5); Western Mindanao (3); Northern Mindanao (3); Davao region (6); Socsksargen (6); Cordillera Administrative Region (4); Caraga (2) and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (2).

Worse, at least 19 or 7.22 percent of these schools had “failed to pass even a single student,” said the CoA.

The CoA said the schools without single passing graduate were located in, among other regions, Bicol (4), Southern Tagalog (4), Central Luzon (3) and Ilocos (2).

In 108 nursing schools nationwide, only 25 to 50 percent of graduates passed the PRC nursing board examinations, the CoA said.

At least 22 of these schools are in Metro Manila, 14 in Ilocos, 12 in Bicol while 11 are in Southern Tagalog.

The CoA pointed out that in the last 10 years not a single nursing school whose graduates fared badly in PRC exams had been closed by the CHEd.

The CHEd has “only phased out courses like accounting, chemistry, civil, chemical, electrical and agricultural engineering, and customs administration.”

This, the CoA noted, was apparently due to the “inadequate imposition of CHEd’s regulatory powers.”

“Thus, schools with poor quality nursing education continue to proliferate and consequently affect their global competitiveness,” the CoA noted.

The CoA warned that CHEd’s non-exercise of its regulatory function of closing down the nursing programs of schools with poor performance may contribute to the continued deterioration of quality nursing education in the country.

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Feb 1, 2008

Buhay Amerika

I got this one from the bulletin. A friend posted and again I posted it here


Akala ng mga tao na nasa Pilipinas
kapag nasa America ka akala nila
madami ka ng pera. Ang totoo, madami
kang utang, dahil credit card lahat
ang gamit mo sa pagbili mo ng mga
gamit mo. Kailangan mo gumamit ng
credit card para magka-credit history
ka, kase pag hindi ka umutang o
wala kang utang, hindi ka
pagkakatiwalaan ng mga kano. Pag wala
kang credit card, ibig sabihin wala
kang
kapasidad magbayad.

Akala nila mayaman ka na kase may
kotse ka na. Ang totoo, kapag
hindi ka bumili ng kotse sa
America maglalakad ka ng milya-
milya sa ilalim ng init ng araw o kaya
sa snow.
Walang jeepney, tricycle o padyak
sa America .

Akala nila masarap ang buhay dito sa
America . Ang totoo, puro ka
trabaho kase pag di ka nagtrabaho,
wala kang pangbayad ng bills mo sa
kotse, credit card, ilaw, tubig,
insurance, bahay at iba pa. Hindi ka na
pwedeng tumambay sa kapitbahay kase
busy din sila maghanap buhay
pangbayad ng bills nila.

Akala nila masaya ka kase nagpadala
ka ng picture mo sa Disneyland,
Seaworld, Six Flags, Universal Studios
at iba pang attractions. Ang
totoo, kailangan mo ngumiti kase
nagbayad ka ng $70+ para makarating ka
dun, kailangan mo na naman ang 10
hours na sweldo mong pinangbayad sa
ticket.

Akala nila malaki na ang kinikita
mo kase dolyar na sweldo mo. Ang
totoo, malaki pagpinalit mo ng peso,
pero dolyar din ang gastos mo sa
America. Ibig sabihin ang dolyar mong
kinita sa presyong dolyar mo din
gagastusin. Ang P15.00 na sardinas sa
Pilipinas $1.00 sa America , ang
isang pakete ng sigarilyo sa pilipinas
P40.00, sa America $ 6.50, ang
upa mo sa bahay na P10,000 sa
Pilipinas, sa America $1,000++.

Akala nila buhay milyonaryo ka na
kase ang ganda ng bahay at kotse
mo. Ang totoo milyon ang utang mo. Ang
bago mong kotse 5 taon mong
huhulugan. Ang bahay 30 taon mong
huhulugan. Ibig sabihin, alipin ka ng
bahay at kotse mo.

Madaming naghahangad na makarating
sa America . Lalo na mga nurses,
mahirap maging normal na manggagawa sa
Pilipinas. Madalas pagod ka sa
trabaho. Pag dating ng sweldo mo,
kulang pa sa pagkain mo. Pero ganun
din sa ibang bansa katulad ng
America . Hindi ibig sabihin dolyar na
ang sweldo mo, yayaman ka na,
kailangan mo
ding magbanat ng buto para
mabuhay ka sa ibang bansa.

Isang malaking sakripisyo ang pag
alis mo sa bansang pinagsilangan
at malungkot iwanan ang mga mahal mo
sa buhay.Hindi pinupulot ang pera
dito o pinipitas. Hindi ako naninira
ng pangarap, gusto ko lang buksan
ang bintana ng katotohanan..