CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A concerned group of teachers has joined calls for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to provide overtime pay to teachers and non-teachers who served as poll workers during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) last October 30.
The members of the Barangay Board of Canvassers (BBOC) canvass votes during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) at West City Central School, Barangay Carmen, Cagayan de Oro City, on October 30, 2023. (Photo by Franck Dick Rosete)
Roland Cruz, Northern Mindanao coordinator of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), said poll workers should be given overtime pay in consideration of the number of hours they rendered just to finish the vote counting and canvassing.
“May iba na halos madaling araw na nakauwi. Yun bang sobra sobra na talaga yung oras na pagse-serve nila (There were others who came home early morning. The time they served was really too much),” Cruz told the Manila Bulletin on Tuesday, Nov. 21.
During the BSKE in this city, many electoral board members, specifically in Barangay Carmen, one of the biggest villages here, were caught around 5 a.m. onwards already submitting their tally boards to the Barangay Board of Canvassers (BBOC), considering the high number of voters.
The BBOC stationed at West City Central School in Barangay Carmen finished the canvassing of votes in the afternoon of Oct. 31.
The central office of Comelec had already explained that it wouldn’t be able to provide additional pay for poll workers, citing the joint circular between Comelec and the Department of Budget Management, which provides that those entitled to overtime pay are employees of an agency.
The ACT-Northern Mindanao coordinator said they are planning to submit a letter to Comelec-Region 10 to voice their request.
Meanwhile, ACT Philippines and the ACT National Capital Region Union submitted a demand letter to Comelec on Nov. 16, calling on the commission and DBM to grant overtime pay to poll workers.
The group said the electoral boards during the BSKE rendered beyond 24 hours of service on election day “due to the disorganized and unsystematic process of Comelec’s retrieval of election paraphernalia, delays in the official transportation of materials, and a heavy load of paperwork after voting closed, among others.”
The ACT recalled that the Comelec approved a similar demand in the May 2022 elections, marking the first time that poll workers received compensation for extended hours of service.
Aside from ACT, the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) issued the same appeal to the Comelec.
Cruz urged the Comelec to grant their request to compensate the election workers’ long working hours just to fulfill their duties in the manual election.