Dante Ang, chairman of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, said Saturday that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's decision to require a retake of the leakage-affected portions of the June 2006 nursing licensure examination stays and would prevail despite a pending case in the Court of Appeals.

"As of this moment, the President has not changed her mind. The President's stand is for a retake of Tests III and V,'' Ang said in a phone interview.

Ang made the statement after Malacañang appeared to be backpedaling on the President's earlier order for a retake of the nursing exam.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Malacañang will not take any action on the issue until the Court of Appeals resolves petitions seeking the retake and invalidation of the oath administered by the Professional Regulation Commission on the successful examinees.

Ang said it was "within the powers of the executive to come up with its own decision" on the resolution of the nursing exam leakage controversy to restore the integrity of the nursing profession and the licensure exams in the country.

Ang also heads the Task Force on the United States National Council Licensure Examinations (NCLEX) which investigated the leakage. Ang confirmed he was one of the Cabinet officials who recommended the retake of Tests III and V during a Cabinet meeting last Tuesday.

Ang has been lobbying to make the Philippines an NCLEX examination site due to the sheer number of Filipino nurses entering the United States.

He said a retake of only the portions affected by the leakage would be enough to restore the integrity of the nursing profession and licensure exams.

"My position is if the system is flawed, anybody who comes out of it is questionable and under a cloud of doubt," Ang said.

But Senators Richard Gordon and Rodolfo Biazon said Malacañang should await the decision of the CA.

"Out of respect to the court they should not make a decision ahead of the ruling because that would be contemptuous behavior," said Gordon, author of the resolution which prompted the Senate civil service committee to investigate the leakage.

Gordon said his position was for the retake to be required only for students of the review centers who availed themselves of the leaked test questions in Baguio City and Metro Manila.

Biazon, head of the Senate civil service committee, criticized Malacañang for its flip-flopping, noting that the President first said there should be no retake, then said there should be a retake, and now appears to be holding it off.