By
Georaloy I. Palao-ay
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet –
Top Dept. of Education officials warned teachers and personnel to veer away
from electioneering and partisan politics this coming May elections or face
sanctions.
The
Department recently released DepEd Order No. 48, series 2018 which identifies
activities regarded as partisan political activities in accordance with rules
and regulations promulgated by the Civil Service Commission and Commission on
Elections.
Any DepEd
official or personnel who commits prohibited acts shall be dealt with in
accordance with the Omnibus Election Code,
Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service, and DepEd
Order No. 49, series 2006 or the Revised Rules of Procedure of DepEd in
Administrative Cases.
This, even as
they said election duties of public school teachers are no longer compulsory
but honoraria, allowances, and benefits of those who will render election
duties will be given.
This is
stipulated in Republic Act 10756 or the Election Service Reform Act of 2014
(ESRA).
Top Dept. of
Education officials bared these in a consultation with public schools district
supervisors and Alternative Learning System (ALS) implementers from across the
region.
Citing
crucial role of the DepEd in the coming national and local elections
Undersecretary for Administration Alain Del B. Pascua and Assistant Secretary
for Procurement, Project Management, and Field Operations lawyer Revsee A.
Escobedo briefed participants on creation of DepEd election task forces in the
central office level down to the district level and on the salient features of
RA 10756 or ESRA.
Benefits of
teaches who will render election service include five days of service credit,
travel allowance of P1,000, P50,000 legal indemnification for legal assistance
and other forms of legal protection, medical assistance in such amount as may be
“sufficient to cover for medical and hospitalization expenses until recovery of
injuries sustained while in the performance of election duties,” and P500,000
death benefit. “This is the first time
we are conducting an activity like this in preparation for orderly elections
and we are in fact piloting it here in the Cordillera region,” said Pascua.
The consultation which will be done nationwide
or in all other regions according to the undersecretary will also be an avenue
for those in the ground to air out their issues and concerns as well as the
gathering of teacher or DepEd related reports experienced during the past
elections as a means to address the same this coming elections.
“We would
like to get everything of these usual DepEd related reports or incidents and
put them into a mobile application as a checklist of sorts to make incident
reporting very easy, accessible, and real time,” Pascua said.
He added that
a national operations and monitoring center manned by the national office will
receive and monitor such reports before, during, and after the elections.
According to
Pascua, the training of teachers especially in the use of the Vote Counting
Machines (VCMs) will happen these coming months.
The DepEd,
Commission on Elections and Dept. of Science and Technology recently signed a
memorandum of agreement relative to the training of teachers who will serve in
the midterm elections on May 13.
Escobedo
explained movement of DepEd employees who won’t be affected by the 45-day ban
set by Comelec.
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