ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro felt elated over the decision of the Department of Education to retract its directive to teachers reporting on-site during the pre-and post-election period of May 2 to 13 which is no classes days.

Castro said the strong clamor of teachers behind the leadership of ACT regional unions, pushed the DepEd to make the decision.

“Patunay muli ito na sa sama-samang pagkilos upang igiit ang maka-guro at makatuwirang panawagan, makakamit ang tagumpay,” Castro said.

The solon said DepEd will abuse its discretion if it will force the teachers to work on non-class days without additional compensation or service credits, and said days are not even included in the computation of proportional vacation pay.

“Magiging malaking serbisyo na naman ito ng mga guro na idadaan sa ‘thank you’ lamang, she added.

Castro stressed if DepEd insists on the on-site reporting during the election period, it will put all teachers at great risk since the vote counting machines and other election paraphernalia are already in the schools.

She further said this also runs counter to the aim of protecting the sanctity of elections, since there should be limited access of persons in the polling places.

“We strongly urge DepEd to prioritize the welfare of our teachers in this pandemic and not to add more burden and unjustifiable tasks to them,” she said.