Group assails proposal on AIDS test for returning OFWs

MANILA, Philippines - A migrant workers group on Tuesday bewailed the “endless burden" being imposed by the government on overseas Filipino workers (OFW).

Migrante-Middle East particularly reacted against the proposal to require returning OFWs to undergo AIDS test. The suggestion came from Senator Pilar Juliana “Pia" Cayetano after the Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) proposal to require a mandatory psychiatric test for departing OFWs.

"From psych test to AIDS test, what else? It seems that OFWs are now the target of seemingly endless burden imposed by the government. Now OFWs are indiscriminately singled out as AIDS-carrier when in fact anybody who went abroad could be a possible AIDS-carrier, too," said John Leonard Monterona, regional coordinator of Migrante-Middle East.

Monterona warned that OFWs and their families would launch protest actions if the mandatory AIDS test would be implemented and if OFWs would be charged additional fees.

“OFWs and their families will vow to protest against it. It is only an additional burden to OFWs in this time of soaring prices and economic crisis," he said.

Monterona also said that mandatory AIDS test “is unreasonable and may impinge on an individual’s freedom of choice."

The group likewise questioned Cayetano’s claim that a “huge chunk of HIV cases come from OFWs."

"Sen. Cayetano is right in her... observation on the growing numbers of HIV cases in the country. But it is due to the failure of the Arroyo administration through the Department of Health (DOH) to develop the needed HIV/AIDS awareness campaign or other relevant programs to address this concern," said Migrante. - GMANews.TV

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