For unpaid BEIS, staff Comelec officials promise to solve cash cards woes

DUMAGUETE CITY — Key officials of the Commission on Elections in Negros Oriental on Friday said measures were being undertaken to rectify the problem of non-payment of honoraria to teachers and other support staff who had served in the May 9 elections.

During an exit briefing, Dumaguete election officer Gildu Agoncillo said one of the problems encountered after the elections was the Land Bank of the Philippines’s cash cards issued to the members of the board of election inspectors and support staff, as payment of their honoraria.

Agoncillo disclosed that a number of them have not received yet up to now their honoraria due to some mix up in the funds that were deposited in the cash cards. The amount varied, depending on the position of these people during the polls, he said.

Acting provincial election supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano, for his part, said that, aside from the teachers who comprised the BEIs, also covered by the cash cards are DepEd supervisors and support personnel.

Castillano however could not give an exact number of those who have not received payment for services rendered in the elections, but he assured them that arrangements have already been made with the LBP.

The immediate remedy was for the election officers to submit to the bank a list of names of the teachers and other personnel who were entitled to the honoraria so they can make over-the-counter withdrawals.

Some of them have already been paid their honoraria but many others are still awaiting word from the Comelec regarding the problem, Castillano said.

Comelec-7 regional Director Jose Nick Mendros, who was also present during the post-election debriefing, announced that he already sent a memorandum to the Comelec chairman, requesting for a speedy resolution of the cash cards problem.

It is “embarrassing” for some teachers who, upon attempts to withdraw money from the accounts assigned them, found out there were either insufficient or no funds at all, said Mendros.

Agoncillo added this was not a problem in past elections because teachers and other support staff were paid their honoraria through the election officers.  (FREEMAN)