The Commission on Elections admitted that tens of thousands of election inspectors have not been paid their honoraria for their service in the May 9 election, but Chairman Andres Bautista said they are not as many as 100,000 teachers.
Actually, Bautista said there are only 66,000 election inspectors who have not been paid and that is mainly because election inspectors in far-flung areas have been been given their debit cards.
“About 86 percent have been paid. So some 14 percent remains to be unpaid,” Bautista said, adding that 410,000 of the 486,000 teachers who served in the last elections have already been paid.
The number is in contrast to the 100,000 BEI members and support staff that have yet to get their honoraria as claimed by the Alliance for Concerned Teachers, Bautista said.
For the May 2016 polls, the chairperson and members of the BEIs as well as support staff members are entitled to receive a per diem of P1,000 for three days; P500 each for the verification and sealing of the Book of Voters, for the final testing and sealing of the vote counting machines, and for transportation allowance; and P2,000 for undergoing training for a total per diem of P6,500.
According to Bautista, of the P1.745 billion they have allocated and deposited to the Land Bank of the Philippines, some P1.5 billion have already been en-cashed.
“The only remaining amount is about P245 million, which constitutes for the 14 percent,” the poll chief noted.
Asked what could be the reason why the honoraria have yet to be withdrawn by the teachers, Bautista cited the geographical challenges it presents.
“These debit cards have to be distributed to the BEIs concerned. And that is being done by our field officials, specifically our election officers. Sometimes, the distance is far away and it takes a bit of time before the distribution is made,” he noted.
“There’s also the possibility that the BEI has already received the debit cards but has not yet en-cashed it with the bank. Again, mainly because of geographical issues,” he added.
Still, the Comelec chief said he is confident that they can already complete the payment of all BEI members and support staff by next week.
“With the remaining balance only at P245 million, hopefully, by next week, they [will] have all been paid,” Bautista said.