Quezon City teachers acting as Election officers receive and prepare ballot boxes and other election materials to be used in their respective precincts at the Quezon City Hall on October 29, 2023, the eve of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is looking to raise the honoraria for the members of the electoral board and support staff for the 2025 midterm elections due to additional poll hours.

"Sa budget po namin, ipaglalaban po ng Comelec ang additional honoraria ng teachers across the board, sa lahat," Comelec chairman George Garcia said in a recent open forum in Pasig City.

(In our budget, the Comelec will fight for an additional honoraria of teachers across the board.)

"Wala na nga silang tax exemption eh, pagkatapos pagdadagdagin pa namin ng trabaho? May bagong makina pa na tuturuan namin sila tapos wala namang dagdag na kikitain sila sa araw na yun," he added.

(They don't have a tax exemption already and there's already additional work for them? There are also new machines, which we will instruct them on, and they have no raise for that day.)

The Comelec is planning to implement early voting hours for vulnerable voters in the midterm elections, including persons with disabilities (PWDs), senior citizens, and pregnant women. Those sectors can vote from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.

Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco also noted that the poll body’s time and motions studies revealed a five to six hour increase in the post-processing of ballots, which will add more hours to the work of the teachers as poll workers. 

Laudiangco, who also serves as the director of the commission’s education and information department, said that the raise is part of their already-advancing budget proposal to the Department of Budget Management (DBM) for 2025.

"Sa ating mga teachers po, basta ang hiling lang po ng Comelec ay gawin po natin ang trabaho natin nang maayos, i-ko-compensate po tayo nang maayos, i-se-secure po ng Comelec ang inyong mga kalalagayan," said Laudiangco. 

In the last automated elections, there was a P9,000 honorarium for the members of the electoral board and P8,000 for the support staff. 

The Comelec is yet to finalize the fixed rate for the additional honoraria. 

READ: Comelec says additional 200k voters' application processed

MORE MODERNIZED ELECTIONS

The Comelec will not use a transparency server in the 2025 midterm election, but the results will be simultaneously sent to data centers including directly to the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), and the media servers. 

Internet voting abroad will also be implemented for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).  

READ: Comelec bets on outreach, online ballots to boost overseas voters’ numbers

READ: Comelec taps SMS Global Technology for online voting, counting system project

Garcia, meanwhile, assured that hacking the new voting machines will be "impossible" because the poll scanner is wireless. 

Eight copies of the election returns will be produced at the end of the polls including one to be posted outside of the voting precinct. 

Instead of having one repair hub in Laguna, the poll body will be having a repair hub for each of the 82 provinces for the midterm elections. Mall voting will also be implemented nationwide.  

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