To assist public school teachers and personnel who will serve in the 2022 polls, the Department of Education (DepEd) has established its Elections Task Force (ETF) Operation and Monitoring Center.
“The ETF will ensure that teachers and personnel are provided with adequate information, technical and legal assistance in the course of the performance of their duties as members of the Electoral Board,” Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said in a statement issued Friday, March 11.
Briones added that the ETF will also serve as DepEd’s “institutional link to volunteer organizations and individuals.”
DepEd said that the formation of the ETF is one of its initiatives to assist public school teachers and personnel with their duties in the May 2022 elections.
Through the ETF, DepEd aims to help the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and ensure free, orderly, honest, peaceful, and credible National and Local Elections 2022.
In DepEd Memorandum No. 10, s. 2022, Undersecretaries Alain B. Del Pascua and Atty. Revsee A. Escobedo was designated as DepEd ETF Operations and Monitoring Center chair and vice-chair, respectively.
The department will establish the DepEd ETF at the Bulwagan ng Karunungan, DepEd Central Office in Pasig City from May 8 to 10, 2022 to guarantee compliance with the enforcement of all orders and instructions relative to the election duties.
The ETF will be open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the said dates.
Meanwhile, DepEd also authorized all regional and schools and city division offices to create their own respective ETF Operations and Monitoring Centers on the same schedule as previously mentioned.
“The regional directors and schools division superintendents are instructed to submit a list of five officials/employees who will compose its ETF, with their respective designation, position, salary grade, DepEd email address, and contact information,” Undersecretary for Administration and ETF Chair Alain Del B. Pascua said.
DepEd said that the grant of honoraria to officials and personnel who will render their services to their respective ETFs shall be subject to the existing Commission on Audit rules and regulations and relative to the Department and Budget issuance on the matter.
Pascua explained that payments of overtime pay or grant of compensatory time-off to qualified personnel in the central, regional, and schools/city division offices who will compose the DepEd ETF are “authorized, subject to the availability of funds and existing auditing rules and regulations, as well as the pertinent Civil Service laws.”
Moreover, DepEd said that nationwide orientations and training for members of the ETF will be organized.
“They will cover procedures on the use of digital signatures, enhancement and updates to the mobile monitoring application systems, Covid-19 protocols, do’s and don’ts before, during, and after the elections, and other election-related concerns,” DepEd added.