A group of education workers on Monday, Aug. 9, called on the Senate to expedite the passage of a counterpart measure that would exempt poll service compensation from tax.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines welcomed the development on its long-standing fight to exempt poll service compensation from tax after it passed on second reading last week in the House of Representatives.
ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio said that for the past elections, the “meager” compensation and allowances of teachers who serve in the Board of Election Inspector (BEI) have been “unfairly” subjected to five percent tax. This, he said, has been raised to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and was also lobbied among legislators.
“Our fight for poll workers’ welfare is finally gaining ground with the Congress’ approval of this overdue measure on 2nd reading,” Basilio said. “We hope Senate will urgently follow suit,” he added.
The House Bill 9652 was principally authored and sponsored in the plenary by ACT Teachers Partylist Representative France Castro.
The group gained initial victory during the 2019 midterm elections when the BIR and COMELEC conceded and withheld tax collection from BEI members whose annual income do not exceed P250,000.
The recently passed measure, meanwhile, will no longer consider election service honoraria and allowances as income.
“Public school teachers performing the noble, essential, and often dangerous duties of poll workers deserve to get their compensation in full, especially as the coming elections will be held in the midst of a raging pandemic and worsening economic crisis,” Basilio said. “We call on our duly-elected lawmakers to make this their priority,” he added.
Meanwhile, ACT has also taken steps to urge legislators and relevant agencies to raise the honoraria and food and travel allowances of BEI members, and to provide overtime pay as the group anticipates longer hours of poll service in the 2022 elections.
Moreover, ACT called on relevant bodies to ensure sufficient health measures—such as free testing, hazard pay, hygiene kits, medical services and aid, health marshalls, among others—and support mechanisms for poll workers.
“The coming elections will be twice as hard as before considering the unabated health crisis, as well as the grimmer than ever economic and political situation in the country,” Basilio said.
“Our teachers will be at the frontlines of that, and the least that the government can do is ensure that we are well-protected from all threats and properly compensated,” he added.