MANILA, Philippines -- The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday justified its proposal to require departing Filipino household service workers to take psychiatric tests, saying 7 of every 10 domestics on death row have a history of insanity.

DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos, however, said it is up to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to decide whether or not to approve the proposal.

"In these [death conviction] cases, the only defense that we've had was insanity…I'm not a medical expert, but I have talked to them and they say they have done what they've done because it was a message from God, or they're still getting a message from the ground," he said.

"How can you justify slashing the throat a three-year-old or strangling [a woman who is nine months pregnant]?" he asked.

Asked if the psychiatric tests would not constitute discrimination, Conejos said it only seeks to provide additional protection for this sector of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

He acknowledged that some of the convicted household workers were driven made by the abuse they experienced abroad.

"We are also trying to address the abuse,” he said. “But this [proposal] is such a small thing; why not just include it in the medical tests required of leaving OFWs?"

Conejos described the proposed psychiatric tests as a complement to the January 2007 guidelines issued by the labor department to "enhance protection" to departing Filipino household workers.

The guidelines raised the minimum monthly salary from $200 to $400; raised the age requirement from 18 years old to 25; waived their placement fee; required their submission of a certificate of competency; and obliged them to take country-specific language and cultural orientations.

"This is just an expansion of the mandatory requirements enumerated in the labor department's guidelines," he said.

Conejos said the DFA proposal is a recognition that household service workers are subject "to a different type of stress. This is one way of preparing them for the stresses of the job. There are some who are really prone to certain types of stress, mahina ang loob [weak-hearted]. Medical science has already established that some people are more prone to specific kinds of stress."

Asked who should shoulder the cost of the tests, Conejos said this was best left to the POEA governing board, which is now considering the proposal and will be the one to draw up the implementing rules once the tests are approved.

"The labor department guidelines stopped the payment of the placement fees; maybe it can do the same for the psychiatric test," Conejos said.

Various migrant groups' organizations criticized the proposal as discriminatory and an additional expense to the leaving OFWs.