Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has promised a P4,000 increase in the honoraria of poll workers who will serve in the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections.
Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia made the assurance on Thursday, saying he will do everything to raise the pay for the chairmen and members of the Electoral Board (EB), the election supervisor and the support staff.
If approved, an EB chairman will get P10,000, a board member P9,000 and a voting precinct worker P8,000.
The raise, Garcia said, will also be implemented in future elections.
The poll workers' honoraria are subject to a 5-percent withholding tax, but with the increase, their take home pay would be sizable enough, he said.
Comelec has asked Congress for an additional budget of at least P3 billion to supplement its P8.4 billion allocation for the holding of the simultaneous elections on October 30.
Garcia said part of the P3 billion will go to the honoraria of election workers.
He said the October elections will be done manually and will require a longer work period compared to automated elections.
Under the Election Service Reform Act (Republic Act 10756), the poll workers are also entitled to a travel allowance of P1,000 each.
During the 2022 elections, there were 37,2167 voting centers and 105,174 clustered precincts.
Each precinct will be manned by a three-member Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) or a total of 315,522 BEIs, excluding election supervisors and support staff.