DepEd lauds orderly polls

MANILA, Philippines - Education Secretary Armin Luistro declared yesterday that the automated elections last Monday were smooth and orderly despite problems with precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines and in transmission of results reported by public school teachers who served as members of the board of election inspectors.

“Based on reports from the field gathered by our Election Task Force Operations Center, the 2013 elections were generally smooth, orderly, and peaceful. There were reports of problems with the PCOS machines in around 80 of the 77,000 clustered precincts but these were taken care of by the onsite PCOS technicians,” Luistro said.

He said that the Department of Education (DepEd) and the whole nation salute the teachers who exercised resourcefulness and went beyond the call of duty to ensure the integrity of the elections despite some problems with the PCOS machines.

“Compared to previous elections, (it was) much improved as far as DepEd and teachers are concerned,” Luistro said yesterday in a press briefing.

The DepEd ETF Operation Center, which was activated last Sunday and closed down at noon yesterday, recorded a total of 127 incidents that included 80 cases of defective PCOS machines in voting centers nationwide and 21 cases of delayed, insufficient, or damaged delivery of election paraphernalia.

DepEd officials said the 127 incidents reported was relatively small, considering the huge number of clustered precincts.

Luistro assured the teachers that they would get their well-deserved pay for their poll duties.

“Teachers who have ATMs (automated teller machine cards) and cash cards could expect the honorarium tomorrow, Wednesday,” he said.

However, he said that teachers who served in the polls in island municipalities would experience delays since there was no electronic means to transfer funds.

“They have to personally go to the local Comelec office to claim their honorarium,” he said.

Tonisito Umali, DepEd assistant secretary for legal and legislative affairs, said the concern of the department was the prompt release of the teachers’ poll duty honorarium and allowances.