40,000 teachers won’t get poll pay immediately—DepEd

Teachers acting as election officers sit on ballot boxes as they wait at the treasure’s office in Isabela, north of Manila on October 24, 2010. AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Some 40,000 public school teachers serving in the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) in far-flung areas will not get their honoraria for “some time,” according to an official of the Department of Education.

Education Undersecretary for legal affairs, Alberto Muyot said they could not deliver the honoraria immediately to 39,693 teachers without Landbank ATM payroll accounts.

Teachers who do not have Landbank ATM payroll accounts may also not get their honoraria through special “cash cards” to be provided by the Commission on Elections.

“It will take some time before they get their honoraria,” Muyot said in a press briefing on Monday at the Department of Education Election Task Force Operations Center.

He said these 39,693 teachers would have to get their honoraria from the Comelec offices nearest them.

The number represents 17 per cent of the 233,487 teachers deputized as BEI members for the May 13, 2013 elections.

Those with Landbank accounts and cash cards will start to get their honoraria on Wednesday, according to Muyot.

Muyot, chairman of the DepEd Election Task Force, said Comelec would transmit the honoraria to the payroll accounts and the cash cards on Tuesday when banks reopen.

Meanwhile, Muyot denied that teachers deputized by Comelec would be made to pay P200 each to get their cash cards.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said on Sunday that teachers in Cebu and Davao provinces were told by their superiors on Saturday that they would have to shoulder the processing fee for the cash cards.

But Muyot denied that the teachers have been required to shoulder the cost of the cash cards.

Comelec will pay public school teachers who will serve as chairmen or members of the BEI for every clustered precinct P3,000 as honorarium, P500 for the final testing and sealing of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machine and P500 as transportation allowance.

Public school teachers, principals or supervisors who will serve as polling supervisors for every 10 clustered precincts will be given P3,000 while their support staff will each get P1,500.

DepEd supervisors or superintendents who will serve as members of the city, municipal, district, provincial or regional Boards of Canvassers will be given P5,000 each.