Review Centers Still Not Under CHEd

SC orders status quo.

MANILA, Philippines -- The Supreme Court has ordered that the status quo be maintained on the supervision of review centers for professional licensure examinations.

The high court resolution, issued in connection with a case filed by the Review Center Association of the Philippines Inc. (RECAP) means review centers will, for the time being, not be placed under the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) as mandated by Executive Order No. 566.

"The Court resolved to require the parties to observe the status quo prevailing before the issuance of the assailed Executive Order No. 566, the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (RIRRs) Governing the Establishment and Operation of Review Centers and Similar Entities in the Philippines, and Memorandum Order No. 21, Series of 2008," the resolution said.

EO 566, signed September 8, 2006, directs the CHEd to regulate the establishment and operation of review centers to protect all licensure examines from unethical practices committed by some review centers.

RECAP, an organization of independent review centers, asked the high court to issue a temporary restraining order on the implementation of the EO and RIRRs.

It said Republic Act 7722, or CHEd's charter, limits CHEd's authority to public and private institutions of higher education, and to degree-granting programs in all post-secondary education institutions.

Review centers are not institutions of higher education, RECAP said.

It added that RIRRs "practically coerce, on pain of extinction, independent review centers to lose their identities and enter into some kind of a bilateral or multi-lateral agreement with higher education institutions (HEIs) or consortia of HEIs, to get accredited by the CHED and continue operating as review centers."

EO 566 was issued following the scandal triggered by the discovery that questions to that year’s nursing licensure examination had been leaked, alleged by a review center.

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