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MANILA, Philippines -- A coalition of migrants? rights organizations has opposed the proposal to make psychiatric examination mandatory for leaving overseas Filipino household service workers.
Ellene Sana, executive director of the Center for Migrants Advocacy (CMA), said the proposal was made by the Department of Foreign Affairs, citing a study by the Department of Health of mental cases among overseas Filipino workers.
She said they got the information from Poe Gratela, private sector representative to the governing body of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), during a consultation meeting on August 6.
In Resolution No. 05, Series 2008, the Consultative Council on OFWs (CCOFW), of which CMA is a member, argued that this mandatory psychiatric exam only for household service workers is discriminatory, will be an additional cost to OFWs, and does not guarantee objectivity.
The test, CCOFW said, is also redundant as all departing OFWs already undergo a series of medical tests, including psychological tests.
The council also said the test presupposes that the root problem is the workers? psychiatric disposition. It said this presumption is ?unfounded and illogical.?
?Sound psychiatric test results of a worker cannot guarantee one?s sanity because there are simply too many aggravating factors such as work environment, cultural differences, language barriers, and emotional stress that affect OFWs? physical and mental conditions,? it said.
The council pointed out data which shows that 78 percent of the household service workers deemed mentally unfit were deployed in the Middle East.
This indicates that ?what is needed is for the government to look at the working conditions in the Middle East of the household service workers, and not these workers? mental states,? it said.
Instead, the council proposed that the government administer mandatory psychiatric examinations to all government personnel deployed overseas ?to determine their psychological and emotional preparation for overseas assignments, particularly, in handling cases of workers in distress.?
Aside from CMA?s Sana, the other signatories to the resolution are: Fr. Savino Bernardi of the Apostleship of the Sea, Fr. Edwin Corros of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines? Ecumenical Commission on Migrants and Itinerants, Luis Andres Maya of the Scalarini Center for People on the Move, Fr. Fabio Baggio of the Scalabrini Migration Center,
Gwendolyn Valencia of the Philippine Migrants Rights Watch, Carmelita Nuqui of the Development Action for Women Network, Gina Espinosa of Kaibigan Inc., Francisco Aguilar Jr. of the Fil Migrant Workers Group, Mildred Yamzon and Dr. Gloria Itchon of the Women in Development Foundation, and Luther Calderon of Kampi.
