ANGELES CITY- The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said yesterday majority of public school teachers who served in the last barangay elections have not received the P500 transportation allowance promised them and no longer expect to do so.
ACT Secretary General Francisca Castro belied reports that those who got their honoraria were given a total of P2,500 each. “They got only the honorarium of P2,000 each from the Commission on Elections (Comelec), as the supposed P500 transportation allowance was passed on to the responsibility of local government units (LGUs), majority of whom already said even before the elections they could not afford the cost,” Castro told Punto.
This, even as Castro called on public school teachers to join a protest rally at the Comelec central office in Manila, not only on the honorarium issue, but also against plans of the Comelec to charge teachers who, fearing for their safety, refused to serve in the last polls in 13 barangays in Pikit, North Cotabato.
“Why don’t Comelec officials try manning precincts in the most violent prone areas for them to understand how teachers feel?” asked Castro. She noted that even before the polls, the Pikit teachers had asked the Comelec central office to hold the barangay elections in the town center but that this was junked.
She noted that the request was backed by resolutions passed by village councils of the 13 barangays, which were earlier identifi ed by the Comelec as “areas of immediate concern.”
Policemen took over the teachers in the 13 areas in Pikit. Castro also noted that while most public school teachers already got their P2,000 honorarium, others in Cebu, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Norte, Cavite and Cabanatuan City still had to receive theirs.
Also still unpaid are teachers in the second district of Quezon City, Makati, Manila and Muntinlupa, she added.
At the same time, Castro also urged teachers nationwide to support a proposal introduced in the House by ACT Teachers’ Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio to make voluntary the participation of teachers in elections.
She noted that there are dangerous areas where teachers become more vulnerable to dangers amid the Comelec requirement that such teachers should come as much as possible from areas where they also vote.
