POLL WORKERS PAY. Comelec-7 administrative officer Jason Ivan Delos Santos (left) answers media queries during a briefing a day after the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections at the Regional Joint Security Control Center at Camp Sergio Osmeña Sr. in Cebu City on Tuesday (Oct. 31, 2023). Delos Santos said the Comelec-7 is committed to distribute the honorarium for the teachers and non-teaching personnel of DepEd by Friday (Nov. 3). (Contributed photo)
“After the proclamation of all candidates today (Tuesday), our next priority is the payment of honorarium for all the poll workers. We will try to pay them by Nov. 3,” Commission on Elections-Central Visayas (Comelec-7) regional director Lionel Marco Castillano told the Philippine News Agency.
Jason Ivan Delos Santos, administrative officer of Comelec-7, told reporters in a press briefing at the Regional Joint Security Control Center here that election officers reported that 100 percent of all votes in Central Visayas were canvassed as of 10 a.m. Tuesday and 98.60 percent of the candidates were proclaimed.
Delos Santos said the regional office of Comelec has already started distributing the honorarium and has already given out 7.18 percent of the total amount.
Although the regulations provide that the honorarium for poll workers should be paid within 15 days after the election, Delos Santos said the Comelec-7 is committed to paying it by Nov. 3.
According to data from the Department of Education-Central Visayas (DepEd-7), 47,916 teaching and non-teaching personnel served the Oct. 30 BSKE, including 38,015 teachers tasked to man the electoral boards in polling places.
Securing poll workers
Ida Cabantan, chief administrative officer of DepEd-7, said they are thankful to the members of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Fire Protection and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology for securing their personnel during the recently concluded elections.
“We are so happy with the coordination with other agencies who are helping DepEd by securing the teachers who man the electoral boards,” Cabantan said.
The DepEd election task force, she said, has recorded minor hitches but they were able to address them on the ground.
Delos Santos cited the need to improve the accessibility of polling places for the voters who are elderly, pregnant women and people who are differently abled.
“Maybe we can improve that aspect in the next elections. We can have special polling places for the senior citizens at the ground floor,” he added. (PNA)
