Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 2) — Teachers who served during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) will not be getting overtime pay, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Thursday.
Comelec chair George Garcia said only employees of the commission are entitled to claim compensation for overtime work.
“In as much as we would like to give, there is this joint circular which provides that only employees of an agency are entitled to claim overtime,” Garcia told reporters in a message.
The Civil Service Commission and Department of Budget and Management Joint Circular No. 2, series 2015 states that overtime pay is only given to those appointed employees, salaried civilian government employees or those authorized to render overtime pay.
“The teachers who served as electoral board members are not employees of Comelec. Moreover, the budget provided us did not provide for such an item,” he added
ACT earlier called for overtime compensation to teachers who were affected by delays in the processes.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Quetua said, “teachers stayed up for more than 24 hours” on the eve of BSKE due to delays in the provision of transportation, extensive paperwork, and long queues.
ACT reportedat least 10 different areas or schools where teacher-poll workers experienced delays.
DepEd earlier assured teachers that those who rendered duty as Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) for the polls will be provided medical and insurance assistance as needed.
As of early Nov. 2, Comelec paid honorarium for 99,801 out of 605,379 electoral board (EB) members, or roughly 16% of the total EBs set to receive allowance.
Cagayan Valley has paid the most of its election staff, paying 12,533 out of 22,122 EB members or 56.65%.
Meanwhile, the Zamboanga Peninsula has only paid 227 out of 21,696 (1.05%) EB members their honorarium.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) called on the Department of Education (DepEd) and the three agencies to resolve the issue as calls for overtime pay for teachers doing poll duties are recurring.
The group said the Election Service Reform Act must be amended to set minimum hours for rendering election service and overtime compensation, explaining that the five service credits also provided for teachers are not enough.
Under the law, election work for public school teachers is non-compulsory.
“Besides, with or without the circular, the Philippine government and all its instrumentalities are bound to comply with international labor standards including the grant of overtime pay for more than 8 hours of work to regular and contractual employees,” ACT chairperson Vladimir Quetua said.
