TUCP scores DFA over proposed psychiatric test for domestic helpers

Published by rudy Date posted on August 24, 2008

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said yesterday a proposal by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to subject outbound domestic helpers to a psychiatric test is “downright ridiculous.”

TUCP secretary general and former senator Ernesto Herrera said in a statement he suspects that “unscrupulous recruiters and their patrons in the bureaucracy are simply looking to make extra money out of the psychiatric tests, at the expense of domestic helpers.”

According to Herrera, the number of domestic helpers “with potential psychiatric issues is insignificant compared to the overall volume.”

He added that no psychiatric tests may be administered on a large scale, considering volume of domestic helpers leaving the Philippines.

“We do not have adequate behavioral healthcare services here. We do not have enough psychiatrists and mental health professionals to conduct the tests and process the results correctly,” he added.

Herrera said a number of domestic helpers break down mainly because of their vicious employers. “Thus, their psychiatric problems are largely environmentally induced, not necessarily organic.”’

The TUCP estimates that some 8,500 domestic helpers go abroad every month to earn $400 to $1,800 monthly salary. – Sheila Crisostomo, Philippine Star

April 2025

World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”

Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos

Time to support & empower survivors. Time to spark a global conversation. Time for #GenerationEquality to #orangetheworld!

Monthly Observances:

March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth

Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week

Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work

Trade Union Solidarity Campaigns

No to Trafficking

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

Categories