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
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