48 percent pass July 2011 nursing board exam

The July 2011 nursing licensure examination results were released Saturday and 48 percent or 37,513 of the 78,135 who took it passed, with a graduate of the University of the Philippines – Manila, Jomel Garcia Lapides, as topnotcher.

The new nurses will take their oaths at a date and venue to be announced later, according to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

PNoy names former colleague as new SC justice

President Benigno Aquino III has appointed a former colleague in a security agency as the new associate justice of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court received the appointment papers of Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes on Friday morning.

Justice Bienvenido Reyes

Reyes fills up 1 of 2 vacancies following the retirement last June of Associate Justices Conchita Carpio Morales and Antonio Eduardo Nachura. Reyes and the President worked together in Best Security Agency Inc. (BSA), a security agency business Aquino put up with his uncle Antolin Oreta.
Reyes had disclosed to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) that he served as BSA finance manager from 1987 to 1990 during the term of Aquino's mother, former President Corazon Aquino.

Gloria Arroyo to undergo second spine surgery

Former president and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to undergo another operation on Wednesday after going under the knife two weeks ago to correct a pinched nerve in her spine.

In a report on GMA News’ “24 Oras," reporter John Consulta said that the former President is set to undergo a five-hour operation at 7 a.m. on Wednesday after doctors at St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) in Taguig City discovered that the titanium plate in her spine was dislocated.

Mrs. Arroyo was discharged from the hospital last Friday, a week after she went through the first operation.

DOJ to place GMA under watch list

The Department of Justice (DOJ) will place former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo under the immigration watch list, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Monday.

De Lima said the order will be issued anytime this week.
She explained that the order was put on hold "for humanitarian reasons," as Arroyo recently underwent a surgical operation for a pinched nerve.

De Lima said the former President is currently facing several graft and plunder complaints for alleged anomalies under her nearly 10-year administration.

Plunder is a non-bailable offense.
De Lima also said the DOJ has the authority to have people placed under the immigration watch list. Those on the list cannot leave the country without permission from the DOJ.