The Department of Education (DepEd) says it supports public school teachers’ desire for their honoraria to be free from taxes and election duties but that only Congress can do so.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones said during a Laging Handa briefing that the agency has requested the abolition of the 20% tax on electoral service honoraria so that teachers will be paid in full. However, she did add that the decision is not theirs to make.
“Nasa atin ‘yang Internal Revenue Code na lahat ng mga incomes, kailangan may tax. So, ang magre-recommend niyan ay ang Department of Finance kung ano ang kanilang rekomendasyon. Pero dinulog namin ‘yung request kung pwedeng gawing tax-exempt itong mga increase in allowances,” she said.
(The Internal Revenue Code requires that all incomes be taxed, and the Department of Finance should be the one to approve it; nonetheless, we requested to exempt the increases in allowances from taxation.)
According to DepEd Undersecretary Alain Pascua, the law needs to be revised to provide for such tax exemption.
“‘Yang amendment sa batas ay hindi po nagawa ng Kongreso kaya hanggang ngayon, ang ating honoraria at saka allowances ay hindi sila tax exempted,” he said.
Commissioner George Garcia of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) stated on Monday that the commission would assist teachers in their application for overtime compensation while on duty on election day and the abolition of the tax on their honoraria.
DepEd supports exempting teachers’ poll pay from taxes
Garcia stated that the poll body would investigate the teachers’ appeal and recommend it to relevant agencies such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
This arose when a group of teachers marched to Comelec’s offices to demand that the tax on their election service remuneration be removed.
Briones stated that they had reached an agreement with the Comelec and the Department of Budget and Management to raise the allowances allocated to our election officers.
Persons providing election-related assistance are entitled to the following honoraria, according to Comelec Resolution No. 10727, which was adopted in November 2021:
- Chairperson of Electoral Board (EB) – P7,000
- Members of EB – P6,000
- DepEd Supervisor Official (DESO) – P5,000
- Support Staff – P3,000
- Medical Personnel – P3,000
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