THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers urged the Senate to expedite the passing of a measure that will exempt the election service pay of teachers from tax deductions.

House Bill 9652 — principally authored and sponsored by ACT Teachers Partylist Representative France Castro — was passed in the House of Representative on second reading last week.

ACT prodded the Senate to pass its counterpart measure.

“For the past elections, the meager compensation and allowances of teachers who serve in the Board of Election Inspector have been unfairly subjected to 5 percent tax, which we have time and again protested at the BIR and Comelec, and lobbied among legislators. Our fight for poll workers’ welfare is finally gaining ground with the Congress’ approval of this overdue measure on 2nd reading. We hope Senate will urgently follow suit,” ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio said.

During the 2019 midterm elections, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Commission on Elections agreed to withhold tax collection from members of the Board of Election Inspectors whose annual income do not exceed P250,000.

“Public school teachers performing the noble, essential, and often dangerous duties of poll workers deserve to get their compensation in full, especially as the coming elections will be held in the midst of a raging pandemic and worsening economic crisis. We call on our duly-elected lawmakers to make this their priority,” Basilio said.

ACT urged legislators and other agencies to raise the honoraria and food and travel allowances of BEI members and to provide overtime pay as the group anticipates longer work hours in the 2022 elections.

The group also called on relevant bodies to ensure sufficient health measures such such as free testing, hazard pay, hygiene kits, medical services and aid, health marshalls and support mechanisms for poll workers.

“The coming elections will be twice as hard as before considering the unabated health crisis, as well as the grimmer than ever economic and political situation in the country. Our teachers will be at the frontlines of that, and the least that the government can do is ensure that we are well-protected from all threats and properly compensated,” Basilio said.