Comelec to LGUs: Help defray expenses of teachers on poll duty

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) asked local government units on Wednesday to help shoulder the expenses of teachers acting as election tellers in the barangay (village) and Sangguniang Kabataan (youth council) elections on October 25. Comelec commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the reminder was contained in a resolution they passed on Tuesday, authorizing LGUs to contribute to transportation expenses and meal allowances. “Ang LGUs, by operation of law, dapat they should contribute. The resolution we passed was a reminder sa LGUs dapat mag-contribute sila sa gastusin ng BETs para sa election," Larrazabal said in an interview on dwIZ radio on Wednesday. (LGUs by law should contribute, so the resolution we passed was a reminder for them to contribute to the expenses of teachers acting as Board of Election Tellers.) He said the Comelec has to operate on a tight budget as it also has to shoulder the pay of the teachers doing election duty in the October 25 electoral exercise. Larrazabal said the Comelec stands to spend some P1.2 billion for teachers’ pay alone. This covers the P2,000 payment for each teacher acting as a BET member. In the meantime, he supported the Philippine National Police’s aggressive campaign against election violence through their gun ban checkpoints. “Importante ma-check yan (It is important for them to curb illegal firearms), that’s for the safety of the public," he said. Deactivated’ teachers may serve as BET members Meanwhile, the Comelec said public school teachers whose registration records were already deactivated may serve as BET members for the October 25 elections. The Comelec said this was a gift of sorts to teachers who marked World Teachers Day on Tuesday. “For purposes of the October 25, 2010 Synchronized Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections and future elections, there is a need to reinstate above-cited policy in order to address possible shortage of public school teachers by reason of inadvertent deactivation so that they shall continue to serve in the elections," the Comelec said in Resolution 9034, promulgated on September 21. Excerpts of the resolution were posted on the Comelec blog site on Tuesday. Comelec spokesman James Arthur Jimenez said more than 500,000 thousand public school teachers are expected to man 36,739 voting centers across the country on October 25. –VVP, GMANews.TV