Bananarama

Thanks to MLQ3, I was able to read this insightful post from Iloilo City Boy on the raging controversy on the cheating in the recent nursing examinations.

In his October 11 post "Nursing is the Pinoy Middle Class's 'Wowowee'," Iloilo City Boy wrote:

"And to those who are bewildered by the 'irrational' aggressive behavior of our nursing graduates, I would like to offer this explanation: nursing is seen by many middle-class Filipinos as their only remaining ticket to a good life, much like how the poor masses viewed the popular noontime TV show Wowowee and its six-figure cash prizes. Nursing is to the middle-class what Wowowee is to the poor -- a ticket to riches and a good life. The only difference is that Wowowee offers a false sense and/or temporary financial security for the lucky contestant while a nursing job abroad can permanently uplift the fortunes of a Filipino family. The other difference, of course, is that no one has died or has been hurt (maybe psychologically but not physically) in the nursing exam fiasco while many poor people had died in the mad stampede for Wowowee tickets."

Read more here.

Fellow journalist and colleague Jose Bimbo Santos also took a similar track on the issue a few weeks earlier. In his blog, he wrote:

"(One) thing that I could remeber though (from attending a training workshop sponsored by the Asian Institute of Management) is how MBC (Makati Business Club) executive director Guillermo Luz lamented the recent Nursing fiasco as a reflection of how the nursing phenomenon has degraded the passion for the profession as nothing more than all-out desperation. It's passing the exams at all costs, whatever the means."

"Though happening on a completely different plane," Bimbo explained, "Isn't this mentality the very same dagger that claimed the lives of many in the Wowowee stampede? Whenever Filipinos see a crack of getting out of our personal hell holes, we really push the envelope, even to the craziest and unreasonable limits, like horses with side-blinders yearning for freedom at the edge of a cliff."

Read his complete post here.

Nice point you got there, Brando, err, Bimbo.