Teachers march to Comelec office

A TEACHERS’ party-list group on Tuesday urged the Commission on Election (Comelec) to ensure that teachers are able to vote in the May 2010 elections as it aired concern about the possible disenfranchisement of their colleagues.

Following reports that some local Comelec offices already declared the teachers who have not voted in their registered precincts in the past two elections as deactivated voters.

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The ACT Teachers Party-list led around 100 teachers went to the COMELEC head office in Intramuros, Manila to dramatize their concerns especially with the election fast approaching.

Antonio Tinio, the group’s president, warned that hundreds of thousands of public school teachers will not be allowed to vote in the upcoming elections.

“Many teachers who served in the last elections are discovering that they have been delisted as voters in the precincts where they are registered. This is due to the Comelec practice of purging from the list of voters the names of voters who have failed to vote in two consecutive elections,” Tinio said. “However, teachers did cast their votes, except they did it in the precincts where they were assigned.”

Tinio cited the case of the school division of San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan, where 172 out of 435 teachers were deemed ineligible to serve as Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) because they were found to be unregistered.

“It would be ironic if the teachers who make huge sacrifices in running the elections at the precinct level are deprived of their right to vote,” he said.

The Omnibus Election Code states that BEIs should be registered voters.

The group said that the poll body should issue a resolution reinstating the names of teachers who served in the last elections to the voters’ list.

For his part, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) national vice president Benjamin Valbuena said this will most likely be the scenario in most parts of the country, especially in the urban centers like Quezon City and Manila.

He stated that, often, the teachers live far away from their place of work, but they serve in the precincts assigned to them, which are usually their schools.

“Thus in the past elections, they are allowed to cast their votes in the precincts where they serve as BEIs, for it would be difficult for them to take time out of their poll duties to travel and vote at the precincts where they are registered as voters,” he added.

Valbuena further explained that these teachers, who will not be allowed to serve as BEIs, will also not be allowed to vote.

“What is alarming is that the teacher will not be allowed to exercise their right to suffrage, and this is unacceptable!” he said.

To prevent such a scenario from taking place, the group said Comelec chairman Jose Melo should immediately address the impending massive disenfranchisement of teachers.

“We urge the Comelec to recognize the great contributions of the teachers in the past elections, and not just scramble to make the glitch-riddled Automated Election work this coming May 2010,” Valbuena said.

About 280,000 teachers and technical staff are set to do poll duties in May according to the Department of Education (DepEd) way below the previous elections' 500,000.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said this is due to the use of automated technology in the upcoming election which requires less human intervention.

Junking of Namfrel accreditation ‘an insult’

In other developments, National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) said denying them of their application for accreditation was an insult to their integrity and experience of being an election watchdog for so many years.

“To deny Namfrel accreditation because two of its officials are allegedly partisan, is an insult to the integrity and patriotism of its 500,000 volunteers who come together during elections for one common goal and that is to have a free and fair elections,” the group said in a statement.

The group also questioned the Comelec decision to reject their accreditation, noting that it is only under the leadership of Chairman Jose Melo that this thing happened.

The Namfrel noted that in the administrations of Marcos, Aquino, Ramos, and Arroyo they were respected and given their role as citizens’ watchdog.

“Why doesn’t the Comelec welcome the services of an experienced organization whose vigilance helps validate the results of the elections?” the group asked.

They added that it will be advantageous to the poll body to have more than one citizens’ arm given the pervasive doubts on the new process of election.

“A watchdog that is ecumenical, broad-based and experienced in observing, monitoring and assisting in elections would help make this exercise much more credible,” said the group.

It would be recalled that the Comelec has tapped the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) as its citizens’ arm in the May 10 polls.

Despite not being accredited, Namfrel said they would still mobilize volunteers in the May 10 polls.

“Come the 2010 elections, the Namfrel volunteers will reunite, and together with the CBCP-NASSA and other electoral watchdogs, mobilize our countrymen to vigilance once more,” the group said.

On January 29, the Comelec junked Namfrel’s application for accreditation as they express doubt on the group’s impartiality. (AH/FP/Sunnex)