Around 6,000 members of electoral boards (EB)–teachers and support staff–who have experienced delays on Election Day, May 9, will be given P2,000 additional honoraria by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

This was announced by Comelec Commissioner George Erwin M. Garcia during a press briefing on Monday, May 23.

He said all the around 6,000 EB members and staff of the 2,038 precincts have been found eligible by the poll body to get the additional honoraria.

Of the said number of precincts, Garcia said 1,300 precincts had issued with their vote-counting machines (VCMs) while the other 700 experienced issues with their secure digital (SD) cards.

Garcia said the Comelec has already allocated money for the EB members and other staff who have experienced delays, noting that the poll body will soon unload the money to their accounts. He said the additional honoraria will be transferred to them once all members of the Comelec en banc have signed.

“Pasensya na po kayo, pasensya na po sa ating mga guro hindi po namin mabibigay ‘yung hinihingi ng DepEd (Department of Education) na amount na gusto nila kasi nga po medyo malaki hindi naman po kasama sa budget namin ‘yun (I would like to apologize to our teachers that we cannong provide the amount being asked by DepEd, what the agency wants was a tad high given that such is not included in our budget),” the poll commissioner expressed.

The DepEd recently asked the poll body to give P3,000 honoraria to all teachers and other members of EB who experienced delays during the conduct of polls.

“Ginawan po namin ng paraan na kahit paano lahat po ng mga miyembro ng electoral boards, DESO (Department of Education supervisor official) support staff ay pantay-pantay na makakakuha ng tig P2,000 (We made a way to give all members of electoral boards and DESO staff to equally get P2,000 each),” said Garcia.