Don’t deputize ACT teachers as poll execs, Comelec urged

A former lawmaker on Thursday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to exclude members of a militant group of public school teachers from serving as members of the board of election inspectors (BEIs) in the May midterm elections.

Former Ang Tao Muna at Bayan Rep. Mohammad Omar Fajardo said members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) should be disqualified from serving as BEI chair and poll clerks because they belong to a party-list group.

He said ACT was a political party, which is prohibited by the election code and civil service laws from being deputized for election duties.

“The undersigned strongly urges the [Comelec] to strictly implement the law by not appointing public school teachers who are members of the [ACT] to ensure fair and orderly conduct of elections,” he said in his letter to the poll body.

‘Undue advantage’

BEI officials who are members of the ACT may cause “undue advantage and influence” to favor their party-list, to the disadvantage of other groups or other candidates running in the coming elections, he added.

Fajardo said there were other teachers or government employees capable of performing election duties.

But ACT Teachers lawmakers denounced Fajardo’s request, saying this was discriminatory and violated the constitutional rights of their members to join associations and form unions.

ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio said his group and ACT were separate groups.

“Furthermore, there are processes under election laws and Comelec rules and regulations for the disqualification of poll workers. There should be no wholesale or a one-time-big-time disqualification that skips election laws and processes,” he said.

Victims of profiling

Tinio urged the Comelec to “stay true” to the rules and regulations on the appointment of poll workers in the May elections.

ACT made the headlines earlier this month after its members became the subject of “profiling” by the Philippine National Police for allegedly being a front of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

“This attack against members of ACT which tries to prohibit them from serving as poll workers ultimately aims to discriminate by mere affiliation to a legitimate teachers’ organization instead of its claims to prevent partisanship,” ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro said.

Groups calling for ACT’s exclusion in the polls should be reminded of The Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, which recognizes the right of teachers to organize, she said.