going to TRIDENT TOWER MAKATI

if by public transpo,
take LRT to cubao and then get on the MRT. Get off at the Buendia station: here you have two choices, either take a bus to Ayala or take a jeepney going to Buendia-Washington.

If by bus,
tell the "konduktor" to let you off at RCBC plaza (fare is P10). Once there, just walk towards the Shell Maya gas station (behind RCBC), and Trident Tower should be one or two buildings away.

If by jeepney
from Buendia (terminal is across the gas station, Shell also, but this is not the gas station near Trident). Get in on any jeepney and ask the driver to let you off at RCBC Plaza. Cross the street and you'll find the Shell Maya gas station that's near Trident.

Filipino nurses warned against ‘leaking’ US board exam questions to other examinees

By MAYEN JAYMALIN
The Philippine Star

Filipino nurses, beware.
Dante Ang, presidential task force on national council licensure examination (NCLEX) chief, on Friday warned Filipino nurses against “leaking” the questionnaires in the US board examination to other examinees.
“I am appealing to them to consider the honor of the country and not sell the questions to other examinees because we will run after them,” Ang said.
He cited instances in South Korea where examinees memorized the questionnaires and sold them to other applicants. Upon discovery of the irregularity, the US stopped the conduct of examination in Korea.
According to Ang, Filipino nurses should refrain from taking any action that may compromise the holding of US board examination here.
Ang issued the warning as he advised nurses hoping to work in the United States that they may start registering Saturday for the NCLEX examination to be held in the Philippines starting August 23.
Marco Sto. Tomas of the Board of Nursing (BON) said applicants may register and check out information concerning the examination at www.pearsonvue.com. Other information is also available at www.ncsbn.org.
To register, applicants should download registration information from the pearsonvue Web site. All the requirements and fees to be paid are listed online.
Ang said applicants need not visit the office and testing center in Makati because only online registration will be entertained.
“Applicants will register, submit the requirements and get the schedule of the examination online,” Ang added.
The US National Council of State Boards of Nursing Inc. (NCSBN) earlier announced that NCLEX testing will be conducted in Manila to allow “greater customer service” to nurses who are applying to work in the US.
All security policies and procedures currently used to administer the NCLEX examination domestically will be fully implemented in the Philippines, NCSBN noted.
Foreign nurses aspiring to work in the United States are required to apply to the board of nursing in the state or territory where they wish to be licensed before registering for the NCLEX examination.
Sen. Pia Cayetano, meanwhile, welcomed the approval by the NCSBN of the request of the Philippine government for the establishment of a testing center in the country for the NCLEX.
“Bringing the US nursing licensure exams to the country represents a major breakthrough that would benefit thousands of Filipino nurses and their families,” said Cayetano, who chaired the Senate Committee on Health and Demography in the 13th Congress.
Cayetano noted though that the breakthrough also has its downside, since this would also mean more nurses lining up for work in the US, including Filipino doctors who will be enticed to retrain as nurses.

Pearson Professional Centers-Manila, Philippines

+612 9478 5400 (EXT. 3)
27th Floor, Trident Tower
312 Senator Gil Puyat Avenue,
Makati City, Manila

***In dialing the # just dial 0061294785400 ext 3

***Gil Puyat was formerly known as Buendia Ave.

SITE MAP:
look for the Trident Tower (beside shell station its near RCBC Plaza and Cityland 10 Tower 2) by using the maps in:
www.yellowasp.com/makatimap/
www.asiatravel.com/makatimap.html

NCLEX in MANILA UPDATES

NCSBN will begin NCLEX testing in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, at the international Pearson Professional Center on Aug. 23, 2007. Scheduling for examination appointments will begin on July 13, 2007.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHICAGO - The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. (NCSBN) will begin NCLEX testing in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, at the international Pearson Professional Center on Aug. 23, 2007. Scheduling for examination appointments will begin on July 13, 2007.
The Manila site was chosen in February by the NCSBN Board of Directors because of the deep commitment shown by the Philippine government to ensuring a secure test center. The placement of a test site in the Philippines will allow for greater customer service to nurses without compromising the goal of safeguarding the public health, safety and welfare of patients in the U.S.
Intended for the purposes of domestic nurse licensure in U.S. states and territories, all security policies and procedures currently used to administer the NCLEX examination domestically will be fully implemented at this new site. Administration of the NCLEX examination abroad does not contradict or circumvent any current board of nursing process or requirement. All international candidates are required to apply to the board of nursing in the state or territory where they wish to be licensed before registering for the NCLEX examination. The NCLEX examination fee for all candidates is $200. Candidates who elect to take the NCLEX at an international site pay an additional $150 when they schedule their examination. State and territorial NCLEX examination fees remain at their current levels and are not being used to subsidize the international testing initiative.
Offered abroad since January 2005, the current international sites for NCLEX examinations are in London, England; Hong Kong; Sydney, Australia; Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, Canada; Frankfurt, Germany; Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Chennai, India; Mexico City, Mexico; Taipei, Taiwan; and Chiyoda-ku and Yokohama, Japan.

Technical inquiries about the NCLEX examination may be directed to the NCLEX information line at:
1.866.293.9600 (domestic) or nclexinfo@ncsbn.org+1.312.525.3750 (international)NCSBN Web site http://www.ncsbn.org/Pearson VUE Web site http://www.pearsonvue.com/

https://www.ncsbn.org/1282.htm

***UPDATED VEP INSTRUCTIONS SAIPAN (COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS - CNMI)

A. one month or more before exam date, fax the following to (670) 664-3190 or scan and send to VEPInfo@cnmi-gov.net :
1. ATT first page
2. NBI clearance at least 6 months
3. passport (photo/name/signature page)
4. booking certificate/travel itinerary from airline office or travel agency (no plane ticket yet).
5. letter-request to Director of Immigration, CNMI.

Write the following:
a. you'll take nclex in saipan, write date of exam, you are requesting for VEP.
b. your full name, complete address, phone number (put Philippines country code)
c. your e-mail address (very important -- you'll receive VEP thru e-mail, so make sure email address is correct)
d. passport number
e. your signature

B. call (670) 236-0922 or 23 or send email to check if your fax or email was received, then wait for reply. There's no fee for VEP.
C. You will receive VEP thru email one month or less before exam date. VEP validity is one month.
D. If you have VEP, you can purchase airplane ticket to Saipan (thru Continental Airlines or your travel agent).
E. Contact Continental Airlines - Makati office (8188701 to 05)
F. Time difference (Saipan time is 2 hours ahead of Philippine time, same day)G. Any companion must have VEP also.
H. If passenger has a valid US visa, then VEP is not required to enter Saipan.
I. Bring 2 photocopies each of ATT and VEP to Saipan. Immigration officer might ask for a copy of each.

Updates on Visa Bulletin

Number 108
Volume IX
Washington, D.C.

UPDATE ON JULY VISA AVAILABILITY
The sudden backlog reduction efforts by Citizenship and Immigration Services Offices during the past month have resulted in the use of almost 60,000 Employment numbers. As a result of this unexpected action it has been necessary to make immediate adjustments to several previously announced cut-off dates. All Citizenship and Immigration Services Offices have been notified of the following:
Effective Monday July 2, 2007 there will be no further authorizations in response to requests for Employment-based preference cases. All numbers available to these categories under the FY-2007 annual numerical limitation have been made available. Employment preference numbers will once again be available to these chargeability areas beginning October 1, 2007, under the FY-2008 annual numerical limitation.
Department of State Publication 9514
CA/VO: July 2, 2007

List of NON-CGFNS States

As tackled in an earlier article, several states have removed the requirement of taking CGFNS qualifying exams (Certification Program) prior to being made eligible to sit for the NCLEX-RN® examination.
Non-CGFNS states include:
1. CALIFORNIA

2. ARIZONA

3. OHIO

4. NEW YORK

5. MARYLAND

6. GEORGIA

7. FLORIDA

8. ILLINOIS

9. SOUTH CAROLINA

10.HAWAII

11.NEW MEXICO

12. VERMONT

13.OREGON

14. NEVADA

15. COLORADO

16. KANSAS

17. TEXAS

18. MINNESOTA

19. ARKANSAS

20. SOUTH CAROLINA

21. KENTUCKY

22. NEW JERSEY

23. MICHIGAN (effective July 2007)
A chart released by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) showing CGFNS certification program (qualifying exam) requirements by each State Board of Nursing as is available here. The chart lists information gathered by CGFNS as of February 28, 2005.
For a complete list of State Boards of Nursing and their corresponding website addresses, visit the NCSBN website.

courtesy of Lyle Santos's Blog

NCLEX in MANILA

Pop the champagne and pray in thanksgiving. The Philippine bid to hold the US nursing licensure exam in Manila succeeded. Filipino nurses who wish to work in America no longer must travel abroad, burning hundreds of dollars, just to take the NCLEX (Nursing Council Licensure Examination). They can do it in Manila starting mid-2007.

The good news came Thursday evening as the exhausted delegation from Manila, led by Commission on Filipinos Overseas head Dante Ang, was about to sup. President Faith Fields of the US National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), as NCLEX overseer, announced a unanimous decision. It capped two hours of grilling earlier on Philippine assurances of exam security and housecleaning after fraud marred its own nursing board tests last June.
Ang quickly informed President Arroyo of the event. Manila news outlets called to confirm. The persistence of Filipinos on both sides of the Pacific finally paid off. The first step to nursing job placement in America will now be cut in cost by at least half.
The Philippine Nurses Association in America (PNAA) first broached the idea in 2002 of NCLEX locating in Manila. The NCSBN at that time was mulling to open the licensing test outside the US and its territories in two years. For PNAA past president Filipinas Lowery and present president Rosario May Mayor, it was only logical that Manila be among the pilot areas. After all, Filipinos have always formed the bulk of examinees — over 9,000 or 35 percent per year in the 1990s. (That figure jumped to more than 15,000 or 60 percent last year.) The closest and thus cheapest to reach test site back then was Saipan, for which examinees had to pay $200 exam fee and $600 for fare, food and lodging. Locating the exam in Manila would mean paying only the basic $200-fee plus $150 for foreign processing, but no more overseas travel. They would be able to use the savings to review.
All easier said than done, though. Too frequent were reports of coups and kidnappings in Manila, making the NCSBN hesitant. Software piracy was also rampant, worrying NCLEX examiners about tricksters simply memorizing their questions to transform into nursing school lectures.

In Mar. 2005 Ang joined the NCLEX effort, raising it to an official venture with the PNAA and the Philippine Nurses Association in the homeland. He got the US embassy and American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines to support the Manila testing location. NCSBN officials were invited to Manila for a first-hand look at facilities, physical and software security, and Filipino nursing life. They saw that not only the US Medical Licensing Examination was being given trouble-free in Manila, but also the CGFNS (Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools) tests to qualify for the NCLEX. Most telling was the work ethics of Filipino nurses, the reason they comprise 83 percent of foreign nurses in America and are the most preferred by hospitals, doctors’ clinics and care homes.
For good measure, Ang suggested to President Arroyo the formation of an inter-agency Task Force-NCLEX, consisting of his CFO, and reps from the PNA, the Professional Regulatory Commission’s Board of Nursing, the labor office, NBI or PNP, and association of nursing school deans.
The group had just been formed on July 31, 2006, when news broke that the nursing board test of the previous month was marked by question leakage. To make matters worse, at least two nursing board members and PNA officers who owned review centers were implicated.
The exam fraud was but a part of the bigger problem of nursing. There was also the issue of poor education. Schools, cashing in on a surge of enrolments from news of a nurse shortage in America, were churning out 80,000 or so grads per year. But only 32,000 or so are able to pass the board test, and only 2,000 easily get jobs in top hospitals.
A second NCSBN visiting group in Oct. 2006, led by president Fields, became all the more worried about NCLEX security and quality of examinees coming from diploma mills. By Dec. the US board decided to open six more testing sites outside the US: Taiwan, Mexico, India, Canada, Australia and Germany. Again, Manila was scratched from the list.
Ang refused to give up. He was fighting against the PRC for a total retake by June examinees, and was being vilified in the press for it. But he pressed on, promising the NCSBN that the Task Force-NCLEX would help solve the problem of exam fraud and education standards. Last Thursday, on the NCSBN’s invitation, Ang presented the accomplishments: NBI probe and indictment of at least 13 exam leaks and cohorts, replacement of all BON members, PRC supervision by the labor department, and review of the nursing curriculum to suit US standards.
Pearson-VUE, the company that actually handles the NCLEX outside America, made an extra pitch. Fraser Cargill, as Asia-Pacific director, said that if anyone has to worry about exam and physical security, it’s him. Yet his firm gives out three other international tests in the Philippines, including supposedly deadly Mindanao, and has had no hitches. Cargill added that only in the Philippines is his work being made easier by a Task Force that reports directly to the President. It was thus that he gave an estimate of three months max to set up the first NCLEX test site in Manila.

Take a bow, gentlemen and ladies.

JUNE 07 NLE RESULTS

’07 Nursing Board Results out in August
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 05:57pm (Mla time) 06/29/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- The results of the June 2007 nursing licensure examinations will be released in August, or a month later than the results of past tests have been, a member of the Board of Nursing (BoN) said Friday.“The release of the June 2007 nursing licensure examination results will be out by August 15 or 17 up to 31 at the Professional Regulation Commission office in Manila,” Marco Sto. Tomas of the BoN, which prepares and oversees the entire exam process, said.He explained that the month’s delay is primarily due to the volume of examinees this year.Some 78,000 nursing graduates took the June 10 and 11 exams, almost double the usual 40,000 examinees. Among them were some 13,000 passers of the June 2006 exam who retook tests 3 and 5 again on the recommendation of the United States Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS).The June 2006 nursing board exam was marred by the leak of test questions to some review centers. This controversy spurred congressional and criminal investigations, court cases, the replacement of the BoN members, and even a visit of CGFNS lawyers to observe this year’s board exam, as well as the preparations for it.Sto. Tomas said the PRC's three optical machine readers, which can read and correct only 10,000 test papers a day, will take longer to come with the scores.“We hope and pray that none will conk out [during the correction],” he said.After the scores are known, the test papers will have to be matched to the examinees because “the test papers do not contain the names of the examinees, just their assigned numbers,” Sto. Tomas explained.Then, the BoN will have to establish the mean passing score, which is computed from the highest and lowest scores.Sto. Tomas said the BoN members will again go into isolation once the test papers are being corrected. At the moment, they are still preparing the answers.He said this second period of isolation is to prevent the possibility of any of them being influenced to change the results of the exam in favor of selected examinees.The BoN went incommunicado during the printing of the test questions, to dispel any suspicion they might leak out the test questions.“Everything is being done to restore the integrity of the Philippine nursing licensure examinations. This exam is not the work of any one member of the board, but all of the board,” he said.