MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Department of Education (DepEd) are finalizing the memorandum of agreement (MOA) regarding the duties including the per diem of public school teachers in the May 14 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
“We will make the announcement on their compensation next week. We are finalizing the MOA with DepEd. But one thing I’m sure of is that their compensation will be based on the days of service that they will render,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez in a weekly-forum in Manila on Wednesday.
He added that he is not yet certain about the amount.
Jimenez assured that they already have the number of teachers that will be serving in next month’s polls.
“If im not mistaken, buo na ‘yung complement natin ng teachers. It’s a different matter to see on Election Day on who will show up…but so far the complement, the number, it’s complete,” he added.
The Comelec will be needing more than 530,000 Board of Election Tellers (BETs) for the some 177,000 polling centers nationwide. Three teachers will serve per precinct.
When asked if they have back up plan in case some teachers would not report on May 14, Jimenez said : “We have an alternative, we have alternates, we already identified.”
Former Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said he believes the payment of teachers should be higher since they would have more work because the May polls would be done manually.
“Compared to the automated elections where the teachers just process the voters, in manual elections you only have to prove the voting but also count the votes, I think the per diem should be higher, because there’s more work,” Larrazabal said.
But, Jimenez explained that there are fixed rates in the amount of teachers per diem but they can augment what is given. (Ferdinand Patinio/PNA)
