A TEACHERS’ group pressed the Commission on Elections to grant the overtime pay of all members of the electoral board who will work longer hours during the polls due to massive machine breakdown.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers said that the work hours of electoral boards in precincts that experienced hours of machine failure will unavoidably be extended as they had to feed to the VCMs ballots that were entrusted to them by the voters.

The group added that a few minutes before the set end of voting, many precincts still have no VCMs after the Comelec pulled out the malfunctioning machines and had not returned or replaced them.

“Higit labintatlong oras na ang mga guro sa mga presinto, at walang katiyakan kung kailan sila makakatapos sa gawain dahil natambak ang mga balotang kailangang ipasok sa mga VCM samantalang wala ring katiyakan kung anong oras pa magkakaroon ng VCM sa ilang presinto. Sobrang abuso na sa kanilang paggawa kung hindi sila bibigyan ng karagdagang kompensasyon sa mas mahabang oras ng pagtatrabaho,” Raymond Basilio, the group’s secretary general, said.

ACT had demanded for overtime pay for EB members in anticipation of extended poll work hours based on the experience of previous elections but Comelec had rejected the call.

“Instead of hiding behind the technicalities, the Comelec and all concerned government agencies should exert all efforts to give justice to our hard-working electoral board members who are bearing the brunt of Comelec’s ineptitude,” Basilio said.