Recto calls anew for teachers to be 'prepaid' for poll work
Money should have been remitted to city, town treasurers by now

Sen. Ralph Recto today reiterated his call that teachers who will man precincts in Monday's polls be "pre-paid" for their services.

Recto urged the Commission on Elections, and Budget and Education departments to see to it that funds for the mentors' election day honorarium are remitted to town and city treasurers before the week ends.

This will ensure that teachers who will report to town and city halls on Monday dawn to fetch the ballots and other voting paraphernalia needed by their stations will also be able to get their election-duty pay .

510,150 public school teachers who will serve as members of Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) are entitled to a P3,000 honorarium each plus P300 in transport allowance.

The allowance must be given "prepaid and postpaid," Recto said. "At the very least, they be paid half in advance, and the balance right after they have returned all reports and documents needed for canvassing."

Recto made the call as he noted that there were complaints by teachers in the past of not having been paid their honorarium weeks if not a month after the elections have been held and winning candidates proclaimed.

He said any delay in the release of funds for teacher honorarium in this election is "inexcusable as this exercise is not something that we learned of yesterday but one that has scheduled years in advance. "

Funds are also not a problem, he added, as Congress had appropriated P5.7 billion in the 2007 national budget for the midterm polls, of which P2.79 billion was earmarked for the honorarium of teachers who will man the 310,00 precincts .

Recto said other personnel deputized by the Comelec should be "pre-paid" as well, including members of the municipal, city, provincial "Board of Canvassers."

Recto also urged the Department of Education to make sure that teachers needing help for legal and medical problems "sustained in the line of duty " be assisted quickly as there is an appropriation of P30 million for these contingencies.