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Group requests additional compensation, reinforces tax exemption for poll duty honorarium
Group requests additional compensation, reinforces tax exemption for poll duty honorarium
Additional or overtime pay should be provided to teachers who fulfilled their poll duties during the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), a group of teachers said.
"Matters related to taxes and additional pay were among the top concerns of our public school teachers,” said Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) National Chairperson Benjo Basas in a letter sent to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Citing the delays in some of the tasks that resulted in a “straight 30 hours of sleepless and continuous work for some teachers,” the group demanded overtime or additional pay for those who served in the BSKE.
Basas noted that previously, the honoraria for members of the Electoral Board (EB) were stated as per diem and computed based on three days or 24 hours of continuous work as Board of Election Inspector (BEI) or Board of Election Teller (BET), particularly in manual elections.
“Still, many of our DepEd [Department of Education] employees work beyond 24 hours and are thus entitled to overtime pay,” Basas said.
In previous elections, Basas noted that the Comelec has granted the same request.
Even during the 2022 National and Local Elections (NLE), Basas stated that the Comelec allocated overtime pay due to delays.
“This is also consistent with the policy of additional compensation for EBs assigned to precincts conducting a pilot test of early voting for the vulnerable sectors,” he added.
TDC also reiterated the call for the exemption of the election duty honoraria and allowances from 20 percent tax.
“Our teachers consider the task a patriotic duty, but a good compensation package will help persuade more qualified teachers to sit as members of the Electoral Board (EB), the top priority under the Election Service Reform Act (RA 10756),” Basas said.
While teachers acknowledge the increase in honoraria to P10,000 for the EB chairman and P9,000 for the members, Basas said that the the 20 percent tax will “reduce the actual amounts” to P8,000 and P7,200, respectively.
“The supposed pay hike granted by the government to our teachers was also immediately taken in the form of tax,” Basas said.
TDC noted that while Comelec does not have authority over tax exemptions, it continues to lobby for this in Congress and “hope that the president will not veto it this time.”
The group reiterated the calls to exempt the tax on election duty pay—a move that was approved by Congress last year but was vetoed by President Marcos.
"We would like to request a Comelec Resolution, or any sort of official document, endorsing the same to the respective agencies,” Basas said.
RELATED STORY:
https://mb.com.ph/2023/10/31/teacher-poll-workers-lauded-for-bske-service