Chiz Escudero wants insurance coverage for teachers on poll duty
Senator Chiz Escudero is batting for the provision of full insurance coverage on teachers on top of the hazard pay they should be getting on Election Day particularly those rendering poll services on election hotspots.
“Teachers are the most overworked among public servants, having to cope with the tremendous task of educating the youth while at the same time risking life and limb during the entire process on election day that extends way beyond normal working hours and it is incumbent for the government to provide them with security coverage to repay them for their hard work,” Escudero said.
Escudero said he will file a counterpart Senate bill for a House measure that sought to extend insurance coverage on teachers and other government workers in case of death and injury while on poll duty.
House Bill 6528 which passed on third reading in the current Congress session sought to extend insurance coverage for members of the board of election inspectors, board of election tellers and their support staff in case of death and hospitalization due to accident or ailment triggered by election-related incidents.
The Comelec had set aside P30 million in insurance for teachers and other government workers on poll duty on May 13 under Resolution 9640 entitled “General Instructions for the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) on the Testing and Sealing, Voting, Counting and Transmission of Results in Connection with the May 13, 2013 national and local elections” promulgated last Feb. 15.
Escudero, however, said the insurance cover for teachers and poll workers should be enshrined in a law to make it permanent.
Escudero is making education a lynchpin for his next term in the Senate and will earmark bulk of his priority development assistance fund (PDAF) for the construction, repair and rehabilitation of school buildings while working on increasing the pay and allowances of teachers among his legislative agenda.
“Money should be invested in education and while my PDAF were devoted to the construction, repair and rehabilitation of public markets, my next term would see my PDAF focused on providing funds for public school buildings,” Escudero said.
Included in his program for another Senate stint would be to work for the salaries of teachers to be periodically raised in parallel to increase in the prices of basic commodities and services.
Another priority would be providing teachers with hazard or difficulty differentials. “If teachers are assigned to far-flung areas where there are no transportation, water supply or it is in a dangerous part of the country, the government should automatically provide them a pay increase,” Escudero added.
Escudero particularly expressed dismay over the need for teachers for shell out their own money to buy writing chalks and to undergo training to improve their skills.
