‘Some teachers not keen on serving in manual polls’

MANILA, Philippines — Some teachers are hesitant to serve in the May 14 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls because the process will go back to manual, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday.

In an interview, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez noted “anecdotal” stories from the Department of Education and the teachers that some of them are not keen on becoming part of the Board of Elections Teller (BET).

“There are those (who already) begged off from serving on election day,” he said.

The primary reason given by the teachers is that their burden is bigger if elections are done manually, Jimenez said.

Unlike in automated polls, Jimenez said teachers interpret whether a vote cast is valid or not when elections are done manually.?“When the teachers interpret a vote, they are oftentimes subjected to pressure so it’s really hard for them,” he added.

Aside from this, there are also teachers who know only the automated election procedures because the country had the last manual polls during the barangay and SK polls in 2013.?But Jimenez said that while rendering election service is non-compulsory under Republic Act 10756, Comelec is confident there will be no shortage of teachers to serve during elections. 

“Many are still interested to serve,” he said.

For the coming polls, the Comelec will be needing some 531,000 teachers to man 177,000 polling precincts nationwide.

In case of shortage, the poll body is authorized to tap private school teachers, national government employees and any registered voter who is of known integrity and competence and who is not connected with any candidate or political party.