Sorsogon Governor Chiz Escudero today called on the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and the Department of Education (DepEd) to begin preparations that will ensure the full protection against COVID-19 of more than half a million public school teachers who are expected to be deployed for poll duties in the May 2022 Elections.
“It’s only seven months away before our national elections and the government should already begin mapping out health protocols and protection for our teachers who will take part in the elections,” Escudero said.
“Our teachers have always played a very important role in upholding our democracy, particularly in preserving our electoral process. Equally important, however, is how to keep them safe and protected against the coronavirus,” Escudero said. “Sila ang frontliners natin sa darating na halalan kaya’t ngayon pa lang dapat ay paghandaan na.”
The veteran legislator joined DepEd in its call to the National Government to speed up the vaccination of teachers to prepare them for the resumption of face-to-face classes and eventually help them lessen the risk of exposure to the coronavirus when they are called to perform their election duties.
DepEd Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan told a hybrid hearing recently of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture on the planned resumption of face-to-face classes that the vaccination rate for the entire teaching population under the agency stood at 57 percent.
Many senators, however, found this vaccination rate “unacceptable.”
As of October 6, almost 48 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered since the government rolled out its inoculation program last March, according to the Department of Health. About 20.55 percent of the Filipino population had been fully vaccinated, while 23.27 percent had received their first dose.
The health department is targeting to inoculate at least 70 percent of the entire population to achieve herd immunity, but has claimed that supplies issue is slowing down the vaccination rollout.
Aside from making sure that they are all vaccinated, teachers should also be provided with protection kit that will include, among others, face masks, face shields, when necessary, disinfectants and alcohol when they are assigned to polling places, he said.
Earlier, Escudero has also sought to increase by Php10,000 across the board the allowance of public teachers who will perform election duties, owing to the COVID-19 risk they are exposed to.
In 2019, the poll body deputized about 526,686 teachers and DepEd personnel, of which 257,304 teachers served as members of the Electoral Board.