Or Is It The Desperate Housewife's Fault?

ABC-TV’s drama series, “Desperate Housewives” can not be faulted solely for the impression its writer had on graduates of Philippine medical schools.

The Philippines has been plagued by scandals after scandals involving, not just ordinary people, but high government officials and even presidents. And to make things worse, all these scams involved the Filipinos’ dishonesty.

But this is not to say that the Filipinos have a monopoly of scandals or dishonesty in the world. Far worse than these are the scams of other nations, sometimes involving their state leaders too.

But the scams we get into are hardly resolved. Government either sweeps them under the rug or simply uncovered again by yet another scandal.

The Desperate Housewives’s slur would have been avoided had President Arroyo decisively addressed the Nursing Board Exam of 2005 without waiting for the American licensure board to refuse to honor the examination results from this batch.

She could have sent an unmistakable message, not only to the producers of Desperate Housewives, but to the whole world – that we are serious in testing our medical graduates before we give them our badge of approval.

But more importantly, that we do not condone cheating, lying and stealing in this country.