MANILA – While welcoming the provision of full payment for poll duty honorarium, a group of teachers reiterated its call on Tuesday for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to provide additional pay to poll workers who spent “more work hours” fulfilling their duties during the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE).
“We are once again requesting that Comelec consider providing additional payment for those who worked overtime,” said Benjo Basas, National Chairperson of the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), in a statement.
Referring to a report and information provided by Comelec to the Department of Education (DepEd), TDC noted that all employees who served as members of the Electoral Board (EB) and Department of Education Supervising Officials (DESOs) were already paid as of Nov. 13.
TDC stated that this report is “consistent with our own monitoring,” indicating that almost all payments were made within the first two weeks after the election, under the Election Service Reform Act (ESRA) provision that the process should not take more than 15 days.
In addition to additional payment for “overtime” work, TDC also called on Congress and Malacañang to “reconsider the tax exemption for election duty honoraria.”
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