In support of the approval of the bill that will tax-exempt election service pay, members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines staged a mass action at the Senate of the Philippines on Monday, May 30.

In the final week of the 18th Congress, ACT continued to press legislators to ensure approval and transmission of the bill to the President before Congress closes on June 3, 2022.

“Our legislators only have until this week to legislate the tax-exemption of poll work pay,” ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio said.

“We urge them to honor election frontliners, whose services were critical in their own election as lawmakers, by making sure that this legislation gets passed in the next few days, and immediately transmitted to the President for enactment,” he added.

Last week, Senate Bill 2520 passed on second reading.

If it gets approved on the third and final reading, it will be reconciled with House Bill 9652 through a bicameral conference committee.

The ratified version of the bill will then be up for the President’s signature.

ACT earlier called on President Duterte to certify the bill as urgent to expedite its approval in the nearly concluded 18th Congress.

Basilio lamented that the recent imposition of much higher taxes—now at 20 percent, from just five percent in 2018 and 2019—has “robbed poll workers” P900 to P2,400 each.

“Considering their meager pay, which only ranges from P4,500 to P12,000 all in all, these taxes are indeed extremely burdensome and unjust,” Basilio said. “Let them enjoy in full their modest but hard-earned compensation for honorably serving the country every election,” he added.

ACT has been calling for the inclusion of a provision in the filed bills that will refund all previous tax collections from election service pay.

The Senate heeded this call and added a specific provision in the currently deliberated bill for its application to begin in the May 9, 2022 polls, which means that the 20 percent tax deduction on honoraria and allowances shall be returned to poll workers once the law passes.

“We cannot emphasize enough how important this measure is to election frontliners and the urgency for it to be approved today and in the coming days,” Basilio said. “If our legislators fail to do so, all our efforts will go to waste and our poll workers will continue to be deprived of their right to decent pay,” he added.

However, he noted that if the 18th Congress closes without this measure being transmitted to the President, they will be “starting from scratch” when the 19th Congress opens.

“This will be a grave injustice to our poll workers—the majority of whom are public school teachers—and shall be considered a result of legislator’s neglect of their sworn duties to the public,” Basilio said.