Shortchanging of teachers’ pay demoralizing

The failure of the Commission on Elections to implement the supposed P2-thousand honorarium for teachers who served as part of the Board of Election Tellers in the recent barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections is demoralizing.

This was how Cebu Provincial Board Member Victor Maambong, in a proposed resolution, described the pronouncement of the Comelec that BET members who served in the October 29 elections will only get P1,500 for their services and not the P2,000 as promised.

The sum covers their honorarium of P1,000 and P500 for transportation allowance.

In a memorandum, Eduardo Mejos, director of the Finance Services Department of the Comelec, said that teachers who served as members of the Board of Election Tellers for the SK will be paid an additional P500. Which means, these teachers will receive P2,000.

But provincial election supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano reportedly questioned the memorandum, saying that the Department of Budget and Management had already allotted funds for the teachers.

“This shortchanging of teachers’ honorarium did not only smack of inequity, it created as well an aura of deception that demoralized the teachers who have put their lives on the line just to render extra work,” the resolution read.

The motion will be deliberated during the board’s regular session tomorrow.  — Gerome M. Dalipe/MEEV