The Philippine Online Chronicles

A week after the polls on May 10, contrasting reports have surfaced that Board Election Inspectors (BEI) have yet to be paid their honoraria.

The P22.5 million fund for 15,000 support staff in the National Capital Region (NCR) has yet to be released by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) finance department, a dzBB report said Thursday.

NCR director Micheal Dioneda, who was cited by the report, also assured members of the BEI support staff that he was following up the release of the funds.

Dioneda said that aside from the support staff and teachers who served as BEI in Caloocan and Quezon City’s first district, all poll inspectors have already been paid.

Comelec said that they have started releasing the honoraria for public school teachers but members of the BEI support staff should expect a delay since their honoraria was not included in the amount released last week.

Under Comelec Resolution No. 8786 the BEI support staff is entitled to P1,500 honoraria and three days credit service.

The delay in the release of honoraria was hit by members of the BEI and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), who staged a protest last week and asked for an additional P2,000 pay.

ACT president Antonio Tinio also questioned the two-week timetable on the payment for BEIs set by the Comelec and the Department of Education.

The delay differs from past practice where teachers received half their pay before election day. For this election Tinio said, citing information reaching his group, that the earliest teachers can expect their pay is on May 25 or 15 days after the election.

“Unfortunately ang naririnig nating tugon sa DepEd at Comelec, up to two weeks pa, o 15 days sinasabi ng time frame na bayaran ang teachers. Pag-atras ito. Sa nakaraang dalawang election ang practice ay kalahati ibibigay bago mag-election; tapos ang kalahati naibibigay right after maisauli ng election paraphernalia (Unfortunately we hear from the DepEd and Comelec that our pay will not come until after two weeks or 15 days after Election Day)," said Tinio to dwIZ radio.