IN THE unraveling telenovela that is the controversial nursing board examinations, one cannot anymore tell who, or what, is the villain – the legion of hopeful nurses left in the lurch by that last-minute order stopping the mass oathtaking last week, or the Court of Appeals (and by inference, the law) ruling that a temporary restraining order must be issued in order to protect any possible irreparable damage on complainants if the original action is to proceed or be allowed.

One thing sure, the nursing board examinees are polarized now, though they may not so intend to be – one group urging a halt to any oath-taking while asking for heads to roll before a new exam is conducted altogether and another, praying to high heavens that their years of sacrifice and studies be not rendered asunder by making them take yet another test even as they must suffer a cloud of doubt about their mass integrity.

The common public judgment on the situation though is – both sides are correct. The conventional question (and one the courts cannot afford to simply set aside, we believe) is : Why must everyone suffer for the fault of a few cheats?. That question strikes deeply at the matter of fairness. And yet, from the point of view of rational and more logical thinking, the question also begs, if indeed the cheating was widespread and sweeping: What if by allowing mass oathtaking, government and indeed, the Philippine Nursing Board, is unleashing on the public half-baked, poorly trained, grossly incompetent practitioners who could ultimately kill a patient out of ignorance or criminal negligence?

While the majesty of justice upholds the dictum that it is better to set free ten guilty men than jail an innocent man, Government and Law has a far more sacred duty to ensure that the least damage is inflicted on an unwary public by any decision for mass absolution.

Everyone concerned, especially those who failed so far to take the oath, must learn the value of patience in a democracy.