BEIs in Lapu-Lapu receive honoraria

CEBU, Philippines - Teachers in Lapu-Lapu City who served as board of election inspectors during the conduct of the May 10, 2010 polls began receiving their election duty honoraria yesterday.

Lapu-Lapu City election officer Ferdinand Gujilde said that some teachers from barangays Pusok, Pajo and Poblacion already started receiving their honorarium the other day, including the teachers in the island of Olango.

“Atong gihimo nga batch by batch ang pag-release sa mga honorarium sa mga BEI aron nga dili magkaguliyang ang atong buhatan,” Gujilde said.

Teachers who are entitled to receive honoraria are those who served as BEI members and those who rendered poll duties during the election day.

Teachers who did poll duties will receive P4,300 for their services. The pay is broken down into P3,000 as honorarium, P300 for transportation, P500 for the sealing of the book of voters, and another P500 for the last testing of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines used during the elections.

A Comelec memorandum of agreement with the Department of Education (DepEd) stipulates that a teacher shall be given P4,300 in poll duty pay. The MOA also states that P1,500 shall be given to the support staff.

Meanwhile, the Action and Solidarity for the Empowerment of Teachers (ASSERT) asked Comelec for additional compensation for the teachers.

In a statement, the group said that additional compensation should be given to the teachers since they face the problems from the “disastrous” clustering of precincts that resulted in the long queues to the inadequate training given to teachers to technical glitches of the PCOS machines.

“It was the teachers who were made to cope with and was expected to prevail against all odds,” it said, adding that by giving additional compensation, the poll body could show their appreciation for the teachers who served in the polls. — Garry B. Lao/WAB