Teachers who served during the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in nine towns and cities in Negros Occidental, including Bacolod City, had not been paid their honoraria as of Monday, November 6.
But Provincial Election Supervisor Ian Lee Ananoria assured that all payments will be made this week.
He expects all teachers who served on electoral boards, DepEd Supervisor Officials, and DESO-Technical Support Staff to be paid by Wednesday or Thursday, Ananoria said.
Not paid as of Monday were teachers in Victorias City, Valladolid, Moises Padilla, Cauayan, Hinoba-an and Bacolod City.
The funds for La Castellana, Candoni, and Himamaylan City arrived on Monday and payment had started, he said.
Payment in 23 other LGUs in Negros Occidental that was directly downloaded to their election officers began last week, he said.
The delay in payment in the nine LGUs is because the funds were not downloaded directly to the election officers as they either were not bonded or had unliquidated cash advances, he said.
The funds for the teachers in the nine LGUs were instead sent to the COMELEC assistant regional director and were already being downloaded, Ananoria said.
The Comelec has raised the honoraria to P10,000 for the EB chair and P9,000 for members. The service honoraria, however, are subject to 20-percent tax deduction.
The teachers should be paid 15 days from the October 30 polls as failure to do so will be considered an election offense, Ananoria said.
The COMELEC head office wants all payments to be completed this week, Ananoria said.*