ACT storms Comelec to tackle teachers’ poll benefits

Raymond Basilio and other members of Alliance of Concerned Teachers trooped Commision on Election’s office in Manila to meet with poll body officials in a dialogue. Photo courtesy of ACT

MANILA, Philippines — Members of the largest union of teachers in the country went to the Commission on Elections (Comelec)’s office on Wednesday to meet with poll body officials in a dialogue to tackle urgent issues and concerns of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs).

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Secretary General Raymond Basilio and other teachers went to the Comelec office in Manila as they specifically requested April 6 to meet the poll body officials for a dialogue.

However, Comelec officials have yet to engage with the teachers’ group as of posting.

The organization has laid out several demands for the sake of more than 300,000 teachers who will serve as BEIs in the upcoming polls on May 9.

ACT has been pushing for the scrapping of the increase of taxes on election service pay, which was recently hiked from 5 percent to 20 percent; overtime pay for teachers who will need to render extended election service hours; medical measures to prevent infection as well as treat those that may be infected with COVID-19; and legal support at the precinct level.

“There’s still so much that we need to discuss and resolve, and we only have so little time left to do so, they need to start acting with urgency,” Basilio said in a statement.

While they have at certain points publicly expressed support to some of our calls, they need to go beyond that and actually engage in the democratic process of consultation and collaboration with us,” Basilio added.

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