Nursing grads protest in Manila against challenge to certification test.

pat roque / the associated press

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MANILA, Philippines — Nurses have become one of the Philippines' top exports, helping fill shortages of caregivers at hospitals around the globe. But credentials for thousands are under a cloud because of alleged cheating in recent certification exams.

Rushing to protect the reputation of the country's nurses, the government has promised to punish those responsible. Pres-ident Gloria Arroyo's spokes-man, Ignacio Bunye, said the leak of questions in at least two of five test subjects during the June board exams was an "isolated incident."

"This should not be cause for any stigma on our nurses or other professionals who remain ... among the best in the world," Bunye said this week.

That's not very soothing for recent graduates who had hoped to get nursing jobs but find themselves in a legal limbo.

The Court of Appeals has ordered a 60-day suspension for oath-taking by new nurses pending a hearing on the validity of the exams. More than 17,000 of the 42,000 people who took the exams passed.

Some people are urging the government to hold the examinations again, but no decision has been made and some of those who took the tests have staged protests demanding that the results be accepted.

Lilian Grace Yangot, a graduate from northern Baguio city and one of the first to publicly expose the leaks, isn't sure what the scandal will mean for her plans to work in New Zealand.

"Even if we have a retake, it's not a 100 percent assurance that all who passed will pass again," she said. "And if we do not retake, will hospitals accept us?"