MANILA, Philippines—Hong Kong-based overseas Filipino workers have described as an “insane plan” the government's proposal to subject all departing OFWs to a mandatory psychiatric test.“It’s pure evasion of what plainly are issues of widespread abuses of migrant workers and the inability of the Philippine government to protect us. The proposed mandatory psychiatric test is an insane plan of a government that whitewashes its inutility,” the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (Unifil) said in a statement sent to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Unifil joins the growing number of OFWs and local labor groups opposed to psychological testing, which was first proposed by Vice President Noli de Castro and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos after OFWs, particularly maids, who were involved in a crimes abroad turned out to have a history of mental illness. Dolores Balladares, Unifil chair, said the proponents of the psychological testing “are mad to think that OFWs who suffered mental breakdown abroad have pre-existing mental problems before they left the country.” “This is so typical of this government who never made protection of OFWs a real and concrete program,” she added, as she scored the “twisted” reasoning of the proponents to project the blame for the tragedies befalling OFWs to the migrant workers themselves. “The proponents of this scheme are the ones who should have their heads examined. Rampant abuses, exploitative working situations, instituted anti-migrant policies and the lack of political will and actions of the Philippine government to alleviate the condition of OFWs are the ones that drive us to desperation,” she said. According to Balladares, psychological testing would become an additional financial burden to OFWs who are already heavily indebted in paying for fees that recruitment agencies and the government charge. | 
