Maids psychiatric test plan runs into trouble

Manila: Labour groups have condemned a Department of Foreign Affairs plan to subject Filipinas applying for jobs as maids abroad to psychiatric tests.

Connie Bragas-Regalado, the chairman of the group Migrante International, said statements of the Department of Foreign Affairs that Filipina household workers should be properly screened for possible psychiatric anomalies is preposterous since most of the maids developed behavioural problems after working abroad.

Bragas-Regalado's statement was a direct challenge to purported findings by the DFA that some of the Filipino maids suspected of murdering their employers have had a history of emotional instability.

DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Esteban Conejos Jr had earlier proposed that maids applying for jobs in foreign countries be made to undergo psychiatric tests before they are sent abroad. The plan was aimed at preventing incidents where the Filipina maids snap up and kill their employer. Bragas-Regalado said how an employer relates to a maid has a bearing on such incidents.