ACT TEACHERS Party-list Rep. France Castro on Sunday urged her fellow lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives to swiftly pass the bill that will exempt from tax the honorarium of poll workers.

“Congress is nearing its sine die adjournment. It only has 3 session days left for the Senate to pass SB 2520 on third and final reading. SB 2520 is the counterpart bill of HB 9652, which we filed and was approved on third reading by the HOR last August 23, 2021. We urge both Houses to swiftly pass SB 2520 on third and final reading and agree on the Senate version of the bill to be able to put the bill on the president’s table for signature,” Castro said.

She also urged President Rodrigo Duterte to treat the bill with urgency and immediately sign it once transmitted from Congress.

“Simpleng batas na malaki ang magiging epekto sa mga guro nating napagod na nagsilbi sa nakaraang halalan sa kabila ng napakaraming aberya sa mga machines, sobra-sobrang oras ng pagserbisyo at kakulangan ng suporta mula sa COMELEC sa libo-libong reported na aberya sa mga makina at SD Card,” Castro said.

“Napakalaki at mabigat na serbisyo at sakripisyo na ang ginagawa ng mga guro sa pag-volunteer na makapagsilbi bilang poll worker, hindi na dapat ito pinapatawan ng buwis lalo’t labas na ito sa pangunahing tungkulin nila bilang mga guro,” the lawmaker added.

Castro  said that teachers deserve to receive the full amount of the honorarium because of the risk they have to face during elections.

“We urge our fellow lawmakers to thank our teachers for their services in the past election by passing this bill into law to effectively exempt the honoraria and allowances of election service poll workers from taxation,” Castro further said.