FORCING TEACHERS TO DO POLL DUTY

[memyself&irene]

do you agree that teachers should be forced to do poll duty?:shrug:

[Oscar01]

I think they should at least be paid better. I just saw Roco say that even P1,000 a day would not be enough for them, considering the preparation they have to go through before the elections and the harrassment they go through immediately after.

Otherwise, I might agree that it's a good source of extra income when there are no classes. They're in place all over the country, they are organized, and the schools are all there.

[pyket]

I was a QC NAMFREL precinct manager this 2001 elections. I was assigned to White Plains, a fairly affluent subdivision -- AB area, close guarded with its own security and its own subdivision gates. This community would of course rate as one of the "better" polling precincts due to the relatively small population of mostly rich educated voters, the proximity to to Camps Crame and Aguinaldo (ie, one of the last places for violence). I say all this to start to give you an idea of how the place was like. One would expect teachers to have a relatively easy time. But it was different...

The BEIs from my assigned precinct said they were up by 4am, went to the municipio to get the election paraphernalia and reported in with their Election Officer in their assigned areas. They had to set-up their voting sections: book of voters, thumbprint pad, ink, registration lists, etc etc and so forth. They facilitated the voting proper of the elections, answering questions, requiring signatures, looking up names and faces over and over and over again. They met all sorts of people: calm ones, quiet ones, friendly ones, really nasty ones, people that know nothing, people who think they know everything, etc. On duty they could not eat nor drink. This continued until 3pm. Then they had their lunch break for about 30mins. 3:30pm, they cleaned the voting section and set-up their respective tallying paraphernalia. They had to find space to place those big manila paper tally boards as well as tables for the election returns themselves. They acknowledged the designated pollwatchers and the Namfrel volunteers. They opened the ballot boxes according to procedure and started reading the votes. Senator, Congressman, Party List, Mayor, Vice-Mayor, Councilors again over and over again. One reads, one tallies on the board, one tallies on the election returns. There was even an incident where one unruly man (who take note was NOT even a pollwatcher, but a relative of a candidate for councilor) was screaming his protest and insulting the teachers and even threatening them. Pollwatchers continually "contest" the appreciation of the votes in favor of their candidates (inclusion for them, or exclusion against their opponents). There were procedures set up by the comelec that were not really followed (like a tally after the 100th read ballot, etc.) but I couldn't blame them. How can these teachers possibly learn the Election Code? How can they possibly follow ALL the requirements set by the Comelec? It was impossible by my assessment. Well, the last ballot was read and the tallying ended. Another short break for the teachers. It was around 11-12pm (I forget). Now they had to finalize the election returns. They had to inital the box after EACH of the final stick votes for the candidates as well as total the votes. They had to verify that the tally boards were in union with the election returns. They had to sign their names and affix their thumbprints on all the tally sheets and election returns. They had to sign and verify the pollwatchers tallies. They had to fill up their certificate of votes (an additional "tally" setup by the comelec). They had to have the watchers affix their thumbprints and sign on the ERs and the Certificate of Votes. They had to place the ballots in an envelope, sign it and seal it. They did the same to the unused and spoiled ballots. Etc. Etc. Etc. They had to separate each page of the returns, and place each of them in their designated envelopes (7 envelopes total with about 7/8 pages each). They had to sign and seal these again. When they released the 6th copy (6th envelope) to Namfrel, they had me fill up and sign a release form in duplicate (they even forgot that it existed; I had to remind them.) They placed everything in the ballot boxes, signed, and sealed it, and finally padlocked it. This was about 3am. Namfrel's job ended there, but still these teachers had to go to the municipal hall to submit the Returns and the ballot boxes. You would expect more paperwork here...

fact 1) 800 pesos lang ang regular na bayad sa kanila.
fact 2) dinagdagan ng 100 as "bonus" para sa eleksyon na ito.
fact 3) hindi pa sila binabayaran.
fact 4) sila ang pinagbibintangang nandaya.
fact 5) sila ang binabastos/pinagagalitan habang nag-e-eleksyon at nag-bibilangan.
fact 6) see and emphasize facts 1 & 2

I agree that teachers are in the best positions to do poll duty. But I would push for volunteers. If the teachers are still forced, give them COMMENSURATE PAY. 900 pesos for a 24hour election duty (more pa... who knows how many hours they "met and organized" BEFORE the actual election!?!)??? get real... KULANG NA KULANG...