Uphold the PRC-Board for Social Workers' Decision on the Abainza Case

We, the undersigned social workers , wish to express our extreme disappointment over the reversal by the Professional Regulation Commission of the Board for Social Workers' (BSW) resolution dated November 16, 2005 which found Zaldy O Abainza guilty of fraud and dishonorable conduct in obtaining a certificate of registration in social work.

The BSW is the professional regulatory board in social work. We take issue with the process your Commission undertook in arriving at the Reversal without hearing the side of the BSW. Its Chairperson, Monina Manapat, was not even furnished a copy of your February 19, 2007 resolution on the reversal, and had to ask for her copy upon learning about it in July 2007.

It is logical to expect the Commissioners to give primordial consideration to the position of a professional regulatory board (PRB) on any issue that affects its professional domain. That is the raison d'etre for a PRB.

That the PRC reversed the BSW decision without the benefit of a consultation with the BSW shows utter disregard for your own professional regulatory board .

In its resolution on the reversal, the PRC states that The Commission agrees with the respondent-appellant's view that the crux of the controversy is the proper interpretation and implementation of the ETEEAP.

Nowhere in Mr. Abainza's Motion for Reconsideration (his third) did he mention the ETEEAP (Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program). What he said, and this was in his first argument, was : If the Board and USI have different interpretations of the integrated method, it cannot prejudice respondent...

In his second argument, he stated In a real sense, there is no meeting of minds between the USI (University of Sta. Isabel) and the Board with regard to the compliance of the 1,000 hours of casework.

The ETEEAP ceased to be an issue after the BSW denied Mr. Abainza's first application to take the 2000 board examination. Then BSW Chair, Thelma Lee-Mendoza, and another examiner had advised him to enroll in a regular B.S. Social Work program. His Motion for Reconsideration of October 5, 2006 states that he undertook such program. Dr. Salvacion Gerona, then Associate Vice President for Academics of the USI and a witness for Mr. Abainza, admitted this, too, and, in her testimony before the 2003 BSW, said When Mr. Abainza applied for board exam graduating from ETEEAP program, he was not accepted so he went back to our school...And we so ....we reverted his ETTEAP (sic) into the general program.

In short, the ETEEAP had become moot and academic by his subsequent enrollment in the regular BSSW program in the 2000-2001 Academic Year.

The main question is : did Mr. Abainza actually perform the 1,000 hours of field work as required by R.A. 4373? The answer to this is No!.

During the investigation process initiated by the BSW in 2002 that led to the filing of Adm. Case No. A-318 against Mr Abainza for Making Use of Fraud, Deceit, Falsity to Obtain a Certificate of Registration and/or Dishonorable Conduct, neither he nor his faculty adviser , Dr. Ruben Muni could produce basic proof (e.g. recordings with comments by his supervisor, case studies) to substantiate the claim of having done 1,000 hours of field work. Further, his 2001 Certificate of Experience includes work before his enrollment in Field Instruction I and II.

We stand by the integrity of the process the BSW and the PRC Legal Division undertook to get to the truth.

We stand by the BSW decision to revoke Mr. Abainza's Certificate of Registration as Social Worker and the denial of his subsequent Motion for Reconsideration by the BSW and the PRC itself under Commissioner Ibe in 2006 for lack of merit.

The pioneers of social work fought hard for the recognition of social work as a profession. They lobbied hard for the enactment of R.A. 4373 (Social Work Law) that requires 1,000 hours of supervised field instruction as a vital component of the social work curriculum. We believe the BSW had the full right to the enforcement of its professional regulatory law when it filed the administrative case against Mr. Abainza.

Your continued silence on the BSW's Motion for Reconsideration filed seven months ago and and your refusal to meet with our leaders to discuss the Abainza case do not deter us .

We appeal to your sense of fairness and justice.

We urge you to recognize the validity of the investigation process by which the BSW and the PRC under then Commissioner Ibe had undertaken in arriving at a decision on the Abainza case.

We pray you will grant the BSW Motion for Reconsideration.