Comelec eyes completing honoraria distribution this week

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Garcia said Wednesday that the poll body is planning to complete by Friday, May 23, the distribution of honoraria for teachers and other poll workers who served in the recently concluded national and local elections.

Garcia told GMA News Online that so far, the distribution of honoraria in seven regions is already at 100%, while the National Capital Region is around 70%.

“15 days po ang binigay sa amin ng law to distribute the honoraria… Hopefully matapos namin ng [Friday],” the poll chairman said.

(The law allows us 15 days to distribute the honoraria... Hopefully we can finish it by Friday.)

According to Garcia, the regions that have completed the payment of allowances for poll workers are: Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, the Bicol Region, Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, Caraga, and Negros Island Region.

Garcia said this is reaction to the call of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT)-NCR Union for the “immediate release” of honoraria for members of the electoral board who served in the May 12 midterm elections.

ACT-NCR union president Ruby Bernardo had lamented that some teachers worked for more than 24 consecutive hours, with others having to spend their own money for food and transportation, to provide apt service on Election Day, “only to be met with delays in payment.”

The number of poll workers for the midterm polls was estimated at 758,549—majority of whom are public school teachers.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) earlier announced that it approved an additional P1,000 across-the-board honoraria for teachers and other poll workers, with the release of P758.459 million.

This was on top of the P2,000 across-the-board compensation initially authorized by the DBM, funded under the 2025 General Appropriations Act. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News

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