The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Thursday, March 23 that it will increase the honoraria of teachers beginning with the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE). In a press conference, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia announced that they will give the same allowance that they have provided to teachers during the automated elections. With regard to giving it in advance, Garcia has already mentioned before that it's possible to give the honoraria this way but it will be up to the Commission on Audit (COA). "If COA will allow that, we will do that," he added. He has explained that there have been instances wherein they paid in advance but some teachers failed to serve on election day. "Kapag nagkaganun kinakailangan ibalik lahat ng naiadvance namin na yun. Alam niyo naman sa pamahalaan lalong-lalo na sa isyu ng budgeting, accounting mukhang hindi basta basta pinapayagan yung advanced payment sa mga services. Dapat po maglingkod po muna pagkatapos saka yung bayad (If that happens, we need to return the honoraria that was given in advance. As you know in the government when it comes to the issue of budgeting, accounting it seems that advanced payment is not easily permitted. Services must be rendered first before the payment comes)," he shared. "As far as the Comelec is concerned, we can always do anything para lang sa ikabubuti ng ating mga guro. Kaya lang po, muli, ginawa na po namin yan dati. Nag-advance ng 50 percent, kaya lang po maraming mga guro dahil tinakot dahil sa kung ano mang kadahilanan hindi nag report sa araw ng election at nagkaroon ng problema lalo na sa COA (We have done this before. We asked for an advance of 50 percent, but a lot of teachers who for some reason became too afraid to report on election day which created more problems with COA) ," he explained. In accordance with the law, Garcia said that the allowance to be given is only P6,000; P5,000 and P4,000 but they will increase it to P10,000; P9,000 and P8,000. "Gagawin naming effective sa Barangay and SK elections," he stated.