Comelec: Don’t rejoice on additional honorarium until DBM releases funds

While the pronouncement of President Arroyo for additional honorarium of P1,000 for teachers who rendered poll duties during the Oct. 29 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections will certainly make them glad, the Commission on Elections, however, is not taking the bait.

Instead, Cebu provincial election supervisor Marco Lionel Castillano said that although the additional honorarium is good news for public school teachers, he said it’s better for them to wait first until the Department of Budget and Management releases the fund before rejoicing.

And despite the fact that the pronouncement was made by no less than the President herself, Castillano said he doesn’t want similar disappointment to happen again when the Comelec Central Office announced that teachers will be paid P1,500 and not P2,000 as earlier promised.

The amount covers P1,000 as honorarium and P500 for transportation allowance. With the additional P1,000 honorarium, teachers are supposed to get a total of P2,500.

In a press statement, Arroyo said she is ordering the Budget Secretary to release an additional P1,000 for teachers who served in the last elections.

“The augmentation I have ordered will bring to P2,500 the total remuneration the teachers will receive for the elections,” she said.

She ordered that corresponding adjustment be sourced out from savings made possible by the prudent utilization of the fiscal surplus.

“I have also instructed the DBM and the Department of Education to coordinate with Comelec on the review of policies pertaining to the release of pay for teachers performing election duties so that miscommunication and delays would be avoided,” Arroyo said. – Gerome M. Dalipe/MEEV