The commission insisted that board passers retake Test No. 3 and Test No. 5. Answers for these parts were leaked in the 2006 nursing board exam.

“The integrity of foreign licensing systems ultimately affects the health and safety of patients in the United States, a primary consideration of CGFNS in its role in evaluating candidates under US immigration law," the commission said.

Arroyo ordered Labor Secretary Arturo Brion to seek reconsideration of the decision by CGFNS. She instructed Brion to study and appeal the CGFNS decision and to uphold the prestige of the country’s nursing profession and continue the deployment of Filipino nurses abroad.

She added that the government has already provided financial assistance to the 2006 nursing board passers for a retake of the exams.

“The government has provided financial assistance to the 2006 board passers for the retake of the exams as called for by the CGFNS, with the proper body to oversee the project, including having a common review center. We shall uphold the prestige and excellence of the Philippine nursing profession as we also promote the prestige and excellence of the Filipino scientists all over the world now that we have the funds to carry it out," the President said.

The CGFNS wants the June 2006 nursing board passers to undergo a retake on the nursing exams particularly on Test Nos. 3 and 5, the answers of which were reportedly leaked by some exam regulatory officials themselves.

The President said that all officials of the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) found involved in the nursing exam leakage would be dismissed and criminally charged.

“All officials involved in the nursing exam leakage should be dismissed without benefits and criminally charged," she stressed.

 The President said that Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita would follow up all reforms measures mandated by the Cabinet for the PRC to uphold its integrity. She also asked the Court of Appeals to resolve the case once and for all to uphold the prestige and excellence of the Philippine nursing profession.

The CGFNS sent a fact-finding mission to the Philippines in September 2006.

At that time, controversy raged over two proposals in the aftermath of the nursing board scandal. to have a retake of the tainted tests or to tabulate scores without using Test 3 and Test 5.

The latter proposal won due to a lobby by the nursing graduates.

As a result, the CGFNS said the June 2006 scandal “raises significant questions about the accurate assessment of the competencies of many of those individuals."

“The CGFNS is unable to certify that the licensure is comparable to a US license," the body stressed.

“In this instance, applicable US immigration law will not permit CGFNS to issue the VisaScreen Certificate required of internationally educated health-care workers to those nurses who obtained Philippine licensure on the basis of passing the June 2006 nursing licensure examination," the commission added.

CGFNS notes, however, that the June 2006 passers are able to overcome this bar and qualify for a VisaScreen Certificate by taking the equivalent of Tests 3 and 5 on a future licensing examination administered by Philippine regulatory authorities and obtaining a passing score.

The CGFNS is an internationally recognized authority on credentials evaluation and verification pertaining to the education, registration and licen¡sure of nurses and health-care professionals worldwide.

The CGFNS is an immigration-neutral, nonprofit organization with 30 years of experience in certifying the credentials of over 450,000 internationally educated nurses and other health-care workers.