TWO teachers associations have asked the assistance of Elections Commissioner Rowena Guanzon on their approved resolution reaffirming the previous decision that their members will not serve in the upcoming elections unless their demands are met by the Commission on Elections in Bacolod City.
These are the Bacolod City Public School Teachers Federation Inc. (BCPSTF) and Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT)-Negros.
City Election Registrar Mavil Majarucon-Sia said yesterday that her office received a letter signed by BCPSTF and ACT-Negros president Gualberto Dajao on Thursday reaffirming their stand not to serve in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.
She said the letter was addressed to Guanzon and she will forward it to her office in Manila.
“It’s up to Commissioner Guanzon to act on Dajao's letter,” she added.
Majarucon-Sia had earlier met with City Schools Division Superintendent Cynthia Demavivas and Dajao after some teachers, who are members of ACT-Negros, signified not to serve in the barangay and SK elections.
She said that under Republic Act 10756 or the Election Service Reform Act, the election duties is already non-compulsory for public school teachers.
“But we are still giving them the priority if they are willing to serve, considering that they have the experience and expertise to do so. I already explained it with Mr. Dajao and I don’t know what happened that they are now reaffirming their stand not to serve in the coming elections,” Majarucon-Sia said.
The BCPSTF resolution stated that they will not serve in the coming elections unless their demands will be met which include to furnish the teachers federation with proof showing the resolution of the case filed against the three teachers of Rizal Elementary School; execute a memorandum of agreement between the Comelec and the teacher’s federation that the former will provide financial and legal assistance to the later in the event a case or cases are filed against the teachers and other members of the BEIs; half of the total amount of election honoraria be released a day before the election day; and the BEIs be given seven-day service credits for the election services they rendered.
Bacolod has 846 clustered precincts and needs 2,538 election personnel to serve as members of Electoral Board and Barangay Boards of Canvassers which includes a chairman, a poll clerk, and a third member.
The third member is the qualified registered voter who has an experience serving the election.
Majarucon-Sia said that as of Monday, there are some teachers who signified to serve and they now need only less than 100 personnel to serve in the elections.
She said they are now finalizing the list and they will submit it to the finance department on Wednesday for the honorarium budget.
“We need to submit it on Wednesday with or without the decision of the ACT-Negros members. We will only accommodate them if there are still slots because for now, there are several government employees who are qualified or an ordinary citizen who is a registered voter and qualified willing to serve in the elections,” she added.
For this year’s elections, teachers appointed as chairman of the Board of Election Inspectors will receive P7,000 as honorarium while the members will get P6,000 each.
Bacolod has a total of 294,854 voters, of which 91,549 are SK voters.
The filing of certificates of candidacy will be on April 14 to 20. The implementation of Comelec gun ban will start on April 14. (MAP)
