CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — It’s final: some 200,000 teachers who will go on poll duties in the May 13 elections will get a total of P4,000 pay, which is P300 less than their pay in the 2010 polls.
The good news, however, is that the teachers can still hope for more pay should there be enough savings from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) after the elections.
The teachers initially wanted an increase of their basic honorarium from P3,000 to P5,000 each that would have pegged their total poll duty pay at P6,000 each.
ACT Teachers’ party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio told Punto in a telephone interview that the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Comelec have already signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) assigning a total pay of P4,000 for each teacher, including an honorarium of P3,000 only.
“While the teachers received P4,300 each in the 2010 polls, they are to receive a total of only P4,000 for their services in the May polls because of the removal of the sealing of book of voters as part of their duty,” he said.
However, the teachers’ transport allowance has been increased from P300 to P500, for a total of P4,000.
The P4,000 pay would consist of P3,000 honorarium, P500 transportation allowance, and P500 for testing and sealing the voting machines.
Tinio said that the teachers had earlier asked the Comelec to increase their honorarium from P3,000 to P5,000 but he lamented this was not granted in the MOA signed recently between DepEd and Comelec.
He expressed optimism, however, that the teachers who will man the precincts nationwide in May would still get extra pay after the elections, saying he expected the Comelec to have savings from the polls.
Tinio noted that last January, the Department of Budget and Management released P4.14 billion to Comelec to fund preparatory activities for the coming synchronized national and local elections.
He also reminded teachers that they are covered by the P30-million accident or life insurance allocated by the Comelec.
Still, Tinio said his group would continue to ask the Comelec to increase the honorarium of teachers to at least P5,000. He noted that his party-list is also backing the appeal of the rank and file employees of the Comelec for higher pay for polls duty in May.
