MANILA, Philippines — The additional honoraria to be received by poll workers in precincts that had defective and malfunctioning vote-counting machines (VCMs) and secure digital (SD) cards will not be lower than P2,000, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Sunday.
Comelec acting spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said that the proposed additional honoraria for the affected poll workers is pending approval in the en banc.
The final amount, however, is still subject to the availability of funds, said Laudiangco.
“This is not overtime pay as overtime pay is not allowed and hindi rin po ito across the board. Not for all electoral boards, dun lang sa affected ng VCM issues at inabutan sila ng delay on account of that,” Laudiangco said in a press briefing.
(This is not overtime pay as overtime pay is not allowed and this is not across the board as well. This is not for all electoral boards, it’s just for those affected by the VCM issues.)
“Basing in 2019, I believe the figure then was P2,000… There’s no decision yet as to the 2022 elections,” he added.
Laudiangco later told reporters following the press briefing that the final amount for this year’s additional honoraria would at least not be lower than that of 2019.
According to the Comelec, there were 915 defective VCMs during the conduct of the elections last May 9.
“It would be unjust if we could not, at the very least, give additional honoraria to compensate for their additional na pagod at yung delay na inabot nila,” Laudiangco said.
(It would be unjust if we could not, at the very least, give additional honoraria to compensate for their additional effort and the delay they experienced.)
The Department of Education (DepEd) has also formally proposed the provision of additional honoraria “for the extra hours rendered by some teachers due to VCM and SD card issues.”
The DepEd’s proposal amounts to P3,000 per poll worker covered.
READ: DepEd wants P3,000 extra pay for teachers’ OT on election day