Teachers reiterate call for additional pay for poll duty

A teachers’ group on Friday reiterated its call for an additional pay of P2, 000 for each teacher who served as members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) in the May 10 polls, a television report said. GMA Network’s Flash Report quoted Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) national president Antonio Tinio as saying that BEI’s pays should be raised because of the added work the teachers had to perform due to the automation of the polls.
Tinio said teachers had to do added tasks such as training on the use of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, testing and other work to do accompanying the automated poll system, which required extra time. But Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesman James Jimenez said the ACT should file a formal petition for the increase, indicating the reasons why the poll body should raise the honorarium by P2,000. Radio dzBB quoted Jimemez as saying that an increase on the pay would not be automatically granted because the Comelec en banc must decide on the matter. As to the claim of added work for the teachers, Jimenez said teachers should not have suffered added burden because the Comelec had deployed support staff for every clustered precinct. But a BEI in Cubao Elementary school noted on Thursday that the support staff fielded by Comelec were there but did not help at all. "Ang support staff tatlo pinadala pero hanggang nakatingin lang sila. Dahil hindi sila mga teachers, hindi sumusunod ang mga support staff dahil hindi rin sila natrain ng Comelec. Pinangako [nila] ittrain sila," said Salve Odono, BEI chairman at the Cubao Elementary School. On Thursday, the teachers complained they have not yet been paid their honoraria (P4, 300 each), contrary to the agreement they would be paid in full days before May 10. [See: Teachers' group seeks additional compensation for poll duty] "[Ang sinabi ng Comelec], two to three days before [ng eleksyon], maibibgay na ang kabayaran pero ang nangyari majority sa National Capital Region at sa buong bansa, hindi pa nababayaran.. dapat ito ay inasikaso ng Comelec," partylist Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) secretary-general France Castro told reporters at a protest rally in front of the Comelec Command Center in Pasay City on Thursday. —LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV