After all they did, teachers’ unpaid overtime was the result
It is disrespectful that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has this answer about the teachers’ unpaid overtime.
During the election period in the Philippines, teachers make extra effort aside from their Monday to Friday school work. Teachers and school workers are being commissioned to facilitate the voting process.
As far as I know, this is not directly stated under their “job description.” Many people might agree that teaching is not just a noble profession, it is also one of the most tiresome jobs.
In the recently concluded Barangay and SK elections, teachers once again showed their dedication even outside their teaching professions. In some areas, the manual canvassing was done and this added to the job that the teachers had to do this year.
However, their hard work is not being compensated properly. Based on the report from Inquirer, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said that their agency cannot give the teachers their overtime pay.
This came after the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) plead to Comelec that to pay the service of the teachers who worked non-stop for more than 24 hours.
“In as much as we would like to give, however, there is this joint COA-DBM (Commission on Audit – Department of Budget and Management) circular which provides that only employees of an agency [are] entitled to claim overtime. The teachers who served as electoral board members are not employees of Comelec,” Garcia said.
He also said that there is no budget for this. The Department of Education, as well as the Department of Budget and Management, has not reacted yet regarding this issue, ad of writing.
Does this mean that teachers’ unpaid overtime will just be shrugged off? Teachers deserve to be compensated for their hard work. Even this is beyond their duty, they have done their best to assist the voters and ensure that the voting process will be in order.
Why can’t the Comelec provide them they salary, the overtime pay they rightfully deserve to receive? This kind of system should be reviewed because it will be unfair to the part of the teachers. It is just so funny that there were reported cases of ghost employees who were constantly receiving their salary and have done nothing but these teachers who were doing the job beyond their original duty do not get a well-deserved extra pay.