OFFBEAT MAIL

In my previous article, I mentioned the hassles that professional nurses have to experience if only to gain the required certifications necessary to get ahead with their future plans and ambitions in life. And their harrowing experiences do not end after graduation or passing the licensure examination in the Philippines, or the CGFNS or the NCLEX for those who wanted to practice their profession in America. From what I learned, some hospitals are making it doubly difficult for new nurses (those who already passed the PRC examination) to attend health-related seminars and workshops, especially for those who wanted to apply for jobs in the local hospitals in the country. Unless, one has a certification that shows he attended seminars like infection control, maternal and child health, and the most important, the seminar on how to administer injectable instruments to patients which they call I.V. seminar. The irony is that this IV certification is now required from all nurse applicant

With President Arroyo's scrapping of Executive Order 464, public officials and employees have now the prerogative to expose the shenigans and other illegal transactions in government, if only to bare the truth. But there is one thing more that bothers many people these days, even if EO 464 is dead. This is Malacanang Memorandum Circular No. 108, whose content is almost similar to that of EO 464. Unless this circular is scrapped, the Palace can still hound government officials and employees who have knowledge of any wrong doings in government offices. It is hard to understand why the president has cancelled EO 464 only now. After series of rallies and protests from disgruntled civil society groups, she finally relented. But reports said she succumbed to the pressures of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), whose members recently met with the president and ranking cabinet officials in an exclusive place in an effort to iron out the kinks that surround the said o