Long queues, delays in canvassing force teachers to work overtime during BSKE 2023

MANILA, Philippines — Delays in the retrieval of poll paraphernalia and lack of transportation forced several teachers to work overtime on the day of the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections, with some kept waiting in their precincts hours after midnight, teacher groups said on Tuesday.

In a press conference, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said its hotlines for the BSKE were “barraged” with complaints from teachers who were kept waiting for hours at their respective polling places and canvassing sites due to various delays.

From the eve of election day until Tuesday, “teachers stayed up for more than 24 hours” due to delays in the provision of transportation, extensive paperwork, long queues while returning election paraphernalia and “commotions disallowing the poll workers to leave the polling place without declaring the winners,” ACT Chairperson Vladimer Quetua said.

Based on the incident reports publicized by ACT, there are at least 10 different areas or schools where teacher-poll workers experienced delays in the return of election paraphernalia and transport of ballot boxes to canvassing sites.

While the Commission on Elections has yet to comment on the delays experienced by poll workers in canvassing sites, complaints publicized by ACT indicate that instructions for teachers returning election paraphernalia were unclear, while one local Comelec office was unreachable.

Another organization of teachers, the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), reported the same findings in its statement assessing the conduct of the BSKE.

TDC said that while teachers experienced heightened security during this year’s election for village leaders — which has traditionally been marred by violence from rival political clans — they were still subjected to “hardship, fatigue and sleeplessness” while manning the polls.

Based on the group’s monitoring on election day, teachers experienced delays in returning documents and election paraphernalia to Comelec offices, TDC Chairperson Benjo Basas said.

“In Taguig, for example, teachers flocked to return these materials until the early hours of the morning, and some are even being asked to return this afternoon,” Basas said.

“In San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, as of this time, there are still teachers who have been awake for over 30 hours and are working continuously,” the TDC chairperson added.

The Comelec has also reported that five villages in Lanao del Sur experienced a delay in the delivery of election paraphernalia. Only two pushed through with holding the elections on Monday, while the other three conducted their polls on Tuesday.

In an online interview with Philstar.com, teachers from one of the 10 embo (enlisted men's barrio) barangays previously under the jurisdiction of Makati City said that the election process was disorganized from the start. 

"What we went through (on election day) was unbelievable. But we were told by other long-time teachers in Taguig that every elections, this is the usual process that they go through," one of the teachers told Philstar.com. 

The teacher, who refused to be named due to fears of retaliation, said that there appeared to be "no plan or system" from the local Comelec office in Taguig due to delays in the validation of election paraphernalia. 

"Teachers almost experienced a stampede-like situation in the parking lot (basement) of Vista Mall where the Comelec site was located. They did not have a system in place and there were too few validators processing our paraphernalia," she said. 

The long wait in the canvassing site made some teachers feel ill, she added. 

"We were promised that we would see the best practices of Taguig during the orientation (for the election). But we experienced the opposite,"  the teacher said.
"It's far worse than what we experienced in the national elections last year in Makati," she added.  

OT pay, ‘systematic retrieval’

Basas said that future elections need to have a “systematic retrieval of election paraphernalia” to prevent teachers and volunteer poll workers from having to place themselves in danger to transport election materials. 

Both teachers’ groups also demanded additional compensation for teachers who served beyond their regular working hours to ensure the successful conduct of the BSKE, which itself was delayed by five years after then-president Rodrigo Duterte rescheduled the polls to 2022.

This year, the Comelec increased the honoraria for poll workers, with electoral chairpersons receiving P10,000 and board members receiving P9,000, up from the previous rates of P6,000 and P5,000.

Teachers’ honoraria in the elections are subject to a 20% tax deduction.

 For the BSKE, nearly 500,000 DepEd teachers served as poll workers.

"This service is a life-or-death endeavor, so it's only fair to match it with the appropriate compensation," ACT’s National Capital Region Chairperson Ruby Bernardo said in Filipino.

The BSKE is a crucial political exercise that determines the leaders of barangays — the country’s smallest political unit. Barangay leaders hold significant sway in their respective localities and can affect the prospects of those eyeing a seat in the national elections.