DepEd sets up Election Task Force
Adequate info, technical and legal assistance for teachers doing poll duties assured
The Department of Education (DepEd) will establish its Election Task Force (ETF) and Monitoring Center in the central, regional, schools, and city division offices to assist public school teachers with poll duties in the midterm elections next week.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones,
in DepEd Memorandum No. 52 series of 2019, announced that the department will establish the DepEd ETF at the Bulwagan ng Karunungan, DepEd Central Office in Pasig City from May 12 to 15, 2019. The ETF will be open starting from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the dates.
Briones said DepEd is one of the national agencies deputized by the Commission on Elec
tions (Comelec) to “ensure free, orderly, honest, peaceful, and credible elections” through the appointment of public school teachers to serve as chairpersons and members of the Electoral Board, as well as Technical Support Personnel.
The ETF, Briones said, will “ensure compliance with and enforcement of all orders and instructions relative to the election duties” of DepEd personnel. “Likewise, all regional and schools division offices of the Department are authorized to create their respective ETF Operations and Monitoring Centers on the same schedules,” she added.
Briones also noted that all “regional directors and schools division superintendents are enjoined to submit a list of five officials/employees who will compose its ETF, with their respective designation, position, salary grade” and other contract information. The five designated members of the regional and division ETF will handle monitoring and reporting.
“The ETF will ensure that teachers shall be provided with adequate information, technical and legal assistance in the course of the performance of their duties as members of the Electoral Board, as well as DepEd non-teaching personnel who will serve” during the May 13 national and local elections.
Briones noted that the grant of honoraria to officials and personnel who will render services to their respective ETFs “shall be subject to” existing Commission on Audit (COA) rules and regulations and relative to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) issuance on the matter.
“Payments of overtime pay or grant of compensatory time-off to qualified personnel in the central, regional and division offices who will compose to the DepEd ETF are authorized, subject to the availability of funds and existing auditing rules and regulations, as well as pertinent Civil Service laws,” DepEd said.
Briones noted that the ETF Operation and Monitoring Center will also serve as DepEd’s “institutional link to volunteer organizations, individuals, as well as partner agencies involved in the conduct” of the 2019 midterm elections.
Meanwhile, Briones reminded all DepEd officials and personnel – being in the civil service –“not to intervene directly or indirectly in any election campaign or engage in any partisan political activity, except vote.”
Teachers’ Hotlines
Groups of teachers will also set up their own monitoring for fellow teachers who will serve poll duties next week.
Earlier, teacher-leaders from the Quezon City Public School Teachers Association (QCPSTA) and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) launched an election hotline which will serve as “our watchdog for our teachers who will serve as Board of Election Inspectors to protect our teachers who will encounter problems during the coming national elections.”
QCPSTA and ACT said that this is “our commitment to our constituents when they serve during this coming election.” The QCPSTA and ACT hotlines are (02) 426 22 38 and 0915 571 9601 / 09477110427.
Meanwhile, the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) has partnered with Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) for election hotline for teachers.
The TDC office in Valenzuela City and the LENTE Office in Quezon City will serve as the command post/or monitoring center for the 2019 midterm elections and “will document reports, complaints and feedback of teachers and the general public.” It will be open from May 12 up to May 14.
Both TDC and LENTE have established one telephone and two mobile numbers each as well as Facebook accounts where teachers and voters can report any untoward incidents like harassment, cheating, intimidation, emergency situation or any election-related concerns, especially for members of the electoral board (EB).
Meanwhile, the command post will “closely coordinate” with government and private agencies specifically the DepEd, COMELEC, law enforcement units, election watchdogs and the media. “Teachers who will not sit members of EB and some lawyers from LENTE will man the offices and are tasked to monitor and document the field situation and provide any possible assistance from organizations and concerned agencies,” TDC said.
The TDC hotline numbers are (02) 6920296/ 0916-6126739/ and 09421883814. LENTE hotline numbers are (02) 5021591 and 0917-1066265/09471644158.