Negros Occ. DepEd official backs teachers’ role in 2010 polls
BACOLOD CITY — Provincial Schools Division Superintendent Rizalino Tortoza welcomed the automated elections announcement next year and supported the move to employ the teachers in the conduct of election.
“We are happy with the announcement that there will be automation in the conduct of election and we back up the plan to utilize the teachers’ services,” he said.
He admitted though that there are teachers who are hesitant to offer their services because of the bad experiences they had during the previous election where their request for legal assistance was not granted.
Tortoza cited the case of an honest teacher who served in the election but was, nevertheless, charged of an election related violation. They requested for a lawyer but no one came to help.
He said he would welcome any move to increase the teachers’ honorarium that would include traveling expenses as some voting areas are very far from the Comelec office so that they had to pay extra cash for their transportation.
Meanwhile, Provincial Elections Supervisor Jesse Suarez said lesser teachers will be needed to man the voting area.
During the last manual election, 15 teachers man the five precincts but with the proposed set-up of clustering the precincts, only five teachers will be needed to run a precinct, but this time, it will have more voters, he told PIA.
Suarez said the training for the teachers has not been scheduled yet as only the directors are currently undergoing a hands-on training in Tagaytay. (PIA-LOL)