ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro slammed the Commission on Elections for increasing the pay of poll workers by only P1,000.

The Comelec issued Resolution 10727 stating the remuneration of poll workers — P7,000 for the chairperson of the Electoral Board; P6,000 for members; P5,000 for supervisors and P3,000 for support and medical staff.

Castro said that the increase was not what Comelec officials promised during budget hearings and meetings of the Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms at the House of Representatives.

Commissioner Marlon Casquejo earlier said that the honoraria of election service volunteers will be increased by at least P3,000.

Castro lamented that the provision for food and travel allowances was removed.

“This is very alarming considering that the Comelec just stated in a committee hearing earlier this week that voting hours for the upcoming elections would be at least 13 hours long,” she said.

“Hindi katanggap-tanggap ang inilabas sa Comelec resolution 10727. Kulang na kulang ito sa panawagan ng ating mga guro na bumubuo ng karamihan ng mga election service volunteers na P10,000 para sa mga chairperson, P9,000 para sa Members of Electoral Boards, P8,000 para sa DepEd Supervisor Officials, at P7,000 sa support staff pati travel allowance na P3,000 to P5,000 at food allowance na P2,500,” the lawmaker added.

“In the House budget hearings, the Comelec also promised at least 10 days service credits for teachers serving in the elections. The guidelines only included a minimum of 5 days,” she said.