THE Commission of Elections (Comelec) in Davao City will try to release to all the electoral board members their honorarium in 15 days after the election day.
Comelec spokesperson Krishna Caballero said the poll body is now fast-tracking the honorarium's release so that the teachers will be able to receive their compensation immediately.
"Isa na sa gika-busyhan namo, aside sa reports, is ang pasweldo para mahatag na gyud namo dayon (Aside from accomplishing the election reports, we are busy taking care of the honorarium so that we could immediately distribute it to them)," Caballero said.
She said Davao City has more than 3,000 electoral board members who served during the midterm elections last Monday. There are about 1,139 clustered precincts in the city.
According to Comelec Resolution 10527, honorarium for those who served in the elections must be released 15 days after the poll was conducted.
"Basin di na gani kaabot og 15 days mahatag na nato siya (There's a huge chance it won't even reach 15 days we would be able to distribute it)," Caballero said.
She also thanked the teachers for their dedication during the elections despite the different problems encountered, including malfunctioning SD cards on the vote counting machine (VCM) in some clustered precincts.
"Our teachers are very patient. Very efficient talaga kasi tinulungan nila tayo... Di talaga sila natulog and we are very thankful for that (Our teachers are very patient. They are very efficient in helping us... They did not sleep just to serve during the elections, and we are thankful for that)," Caballero said.
Meanwhile, Department of Education (DepEd)-Davao spokesperson Jenielito Atillo said the agency has not received any complaints of harassment from teachers who served during the elections.
He said teachers who served during the poll will be receiving their honorarium in cash and no longer through cash card.
He hopes the Comelec could deliver their promise of immediately releasing the honorarium to the teachers.