20 November 2008

For reference:    Dolores Balladares
                  Chairperson, Tel. No.: (852) 97472986

On Mandatory Psych Tests and new POEA employment contract
“RP gov’t is good at union busting and making excuses for ineptness to protect OFWS”

“With the new contract of the POEA and the implementation of the mandatory psychological testing, the Philippine government has shown what it is good for: breaking the ranks of organized migrants and cooking up excuses for its inutility to protect us.”

This was declared today by Dolores Balladares, chairperson of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK) as overseas Filipino workers held a protest action at the Philippine Consulate General to denounce the implementation of the psychiatric test to prospective OFWs next month as well as the new standard contract issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) that listed down union membership as an allowable ground for termination of employment.

“The Philippine government is trying its best to come up withe ideal workers for sale - those who will not break  down in the face of abuses and will not resort to fighting back if their rights are violated,” she added.

She remarked that only a ‘deranged regime’ will put the blame for their nationals who suffer mental problems to pre-existing psychological condition.

“This is such a flimsy excuse aimed to divert from the reality of the Philippine government’s lack of protection and services to their nationals in distress.  Worse, however, is it now tries to withhold from the workers their right to organize that has proven to be more effective in safeguarding our rights more than what the useless government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has done,” Balladares remarked,

Allowing termination of employment based on union-related activities, she said, not only contravenes the Philippine government’s own constitution but also the laws of the countries and territories like Hong Kong that allow migrant workers to form their own unions and associations fighting for the rights of migrant workers.

“The psychological tests, meanwhile, will give the Philippine government an excuse to turn a blind eye on the abuses heaped on its domestic workers abroad especially those working in the Middle East. In Kuwait, Philippine Labor Attaché Josephus Jimenez admitted that five to 10 Filipino housemaids are absconding each day for various reasons ranging from harassment, abuse, to non-payment of salaries. Will they also be considered as mentally unfit by the government for not coping with their exploitative situation?” she asked.

The group also declared as laughable the declaration of Secretary of Labor Marianito Roque who said mandatory test which includes a whole day practicum session for coping with stress would be free of charge. Even now domestic workers who are supposedly mandated by the POEA not to pay any placement fee do so in the guise of very high training fees or through salary deductions.

“These new guides on overseas employment just show the government’s insincerity in protecting our rights in contrast to what it has tried to project before and during the meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in Manila. The GMA government has again shown its true color of irresponsibility and its only interest which is selling its workers overseas,” Balladares said.

Finally, the group called for the scrapping of the new employment contract and mandatory psychological tests that it said are not for the interests of migrants.

“These are deplorable rules that shall make Filipino migrants more vulnerable to abuses. Indeed, the GMA government is plainly ignorant and useless when it comes to protecting OFWs,” she concluded.