Comelec clears up: Provision of additional honoraria yet to be decided

Lawyer and acting Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has clarified that there is yet a decision about the provision of additional honoraria for teachers who were part of the election board, although there was precedent for such actions.

In a statement on Thursday night, Lawyer and acting Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said that Comelec has not yet approved such proposals, saying that his previous statement referred to a similar incident in the 2019 midterm elections where teachers were given additional honoraria.

“Apologies po, but I have to stress that the Commission has yet to decide on this. There is no Resolution yet approved and promulgated. It was a statement of me having remembered that there was a similar instance in the 2019 NLE (national and local elections),” Laudiangco said in a message to reporters.

However, he explained that this would not be the first time that additional honoraria would be given to members of the election board.

“Please allow me to clarify po, that if ever this would be decided on, this would NOT be the first time that this was done, given, as I’ve said, the similar instance in 2019,” Laudiangco said.

“I am now looking po for the similar Resolution for the consideration of the Commission en banc,” he added.

Earlier, Laudiangco said teachers who worked overtime during Monday’s elections would receive an additional honorarium.  Currently, however, there was no data on how much the honoraria would be.

“Sa ating mga bayaning guro at mga electoral boards, huwag kayong mag-alala. Hindi po ito first time na nagbigay ang Comelec ng additional honoraria, it’s not necessarily overtime pay,” Laudiangco said in a press briefing.

(To our heroic teachers and electoral boards, do not worry. This is not the first time that the Comelec will provide additional honoraria, it’s not necessarily an overtime pay.)

READ: Teachers who worked overtime on election day to receive extra honoraria, Comelec assures

Aside from the clarification, Laudiangco also stressed that under the rules of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Comelec is not allowed to give overtime pay.

“But definitely, the Commission, under DBM Rules, as well as other accounting and auditing rules, is not allowed to grant overtime pay,” he said.

Malfunctioning vote-counting machines and corrupted SD memory cards in various areas across the country have led to extended voting hours for some precincts — which in turn forced teachers to stay in their classrooms way beyond the 7:00 p.m. deadline for voters.

READ: Faulty VCMs: More than just a hiccup in 2022 polls

In some cases, people who lined up as early as Monday morning were unable to vote until nighttime.

KGA