THE DEPARTMENT of Education asked the Commission on Elections to provide additional compensation and benefits to poll workers for the 2022 national and local elections.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones, in a letter to Comelec Chairman Sheriff Abas dated February 15, said that the pandemic prompted the department to request for higher honoraria for the teaching and non-teaching personnel who will serve during the election.

“We recognize that there is a need for a higher compensation for the teachers because the risk of the Covid19 is still here. We also made sure that the requested amount or rates prescribed are just and reasonable,” Briones said.

The department proposed a P9,000 compensation for the chairperson of Electoral Boards and P8,000 for members of the board.

For the supervisor and the support staff, it is P7,000 and P5,000, respectively.

Aside from the benefits provided by the Election Service Reform Act and its IRR, DepEd also requested a P500 per day Covid19 Hazard Pay for poll workers.

It also requested onsite swab testing and other health service, P1,000 allowance for food and water and P2,000 transportation allowance.

The department also asked for honoraria for the select members of the Comelec-DepEd Monitoring and Coordination teams from the Central and Field Offices under the 2022 DepEd Election Task Force.

These teams will ensure that teachers will be provided with adequate information, technical and legal assistance in performing their respective roles in the election.

DepEd also proposed that teachers should only work for a maximum of eight hours.