A MOTION was filed today at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that sought to grant additional compensation for teachers and other support staff who rendered extended hours of election service during the May 9 national and local polls.
Comelec Commissioner George Erwin Garcia filed the motion for the Comelec En Banc’s consideration that would grant additional honorarium for teachers who served as members of the electoral board (EB) and support staff. The motion asks to provide additional pay for the work done by teachers and support staff who were forced to render longer hours of election service, particularly those who served in voting precincts that had defective or corrupted Secure Digital (SD) cards and Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) that malfunctioned.
The additional pay sought are for teachers who served as EB members, the Department of Education Supervisors Official (DESO) and the DESO Technical Support Staff (TSS).
“We must ensure that the teachers and support staff, whose sacrifices during election day are unparalleled, are fairly compensated for the work done,” Garcia said.
At least 1,800 VCMs and SD cards were found to be defective on election day itself that caused many voters to wait for long hours just to be able to vote. “The said technical difficulties have forced thousands of teachers to render poll service twice, thrice, or more than their duty hours. In some precincts, voting took nearly 24 hours,” he added.