Junk Shrink Test for OFWs!

Junk Shrink Test for OFWs!

Aug 22

My good friend Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos has proposed mandatory psychiatric tests for departing OFWs. I know that he means well but I vehemently disagree with this proposal for the following reasons:

1. When an OFW particularly a household worker is pushed to the wall by an insane or callous employer, he or she is bound to suffer and manifest emotional and mental trauma. You can be sane going there but be never quite the same after precisely because of maltreatment one receives from a crazy employer. Temporary insanity is a valid medical condition that happens not only to OFWs but to any person subjected to extremely stressful conditions at work or at home.

2. This proposal is no different from the inanity that is the current mandatory drug tests for drivers. We are all being made to pay extra for a drug test to keep out a handful of flunkers who probably don’t care if they have a license or not anyway. If you fail the drug test, does government help out by referring you to a rehab facility? In the same manner, if you are mentally unfit to work abroad, would a mandatory psychiatric test result in your treatment here at home or your departure via the backdoor?

3. Who pays for this test? In all likelihood, the foreign employer will not. The licensed recruitment agency will likewise balk at the extra cost. And the worker? He would have to pay the cost of the shrink test since it’s mandatory UNLESS this is shouldered by OWWA. Still, there is an opportunity cost here. Paying for the shrink test means re-allocating funds from more relevant OWWA services and projects.

Still —

That this is even on the table reflects the frustration and angst of our Foreign Service in dealing with criminal cases involving OFWs.

BUT – a sober look at statistics will show that cases involving temporary insanity of OFWs come from one region (the Middle East, notably Saudi Arabia and Kuwait) and involves a particular sector, namely, domestic helpers.

THUS – the POEA should work closely with the DFA, OWWA, and foreign posts abroad to ensure a tight screening of foreign employers seeking Filipino maids. More social welfare attaches should be posted abroad. Let’s veer away from household work and promote skills training for more lucrative and in-demand work such as welding, cosmetology, and tourism-related positions. And we should do away with this annual target of deploying a million workers abroad – this is not something a respectable and progressive country would trumpet.