Republic
of the Philippines
Congress of the Philippines
Metro Manila
Congress of the Philippines
Metro Manila
Sixteenth
Congress
Third
Regular Session
Begun and
held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the twenty-seventh day of July, two thousand
fifteen.
[REPUBLIC
ACT NO. 10756]
AN ACT
RENDERING ELECTION SERVICE NON-COMPULSORY FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS,
AUTHORIZING THE APPOINTMENT OF OTHER QUALIFIED CITIZENS, PROVIDING FOR
COMPENSATION AND OTHER BENEFITS
Be it enacted by the Senate and
House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
SECTION 1. Short Title. –
This Act shall be known as the “Election Service Reform Act”.
SEC. 2. Definition of Terms.
– As used in this Act:
(a) Beneficiaries shall refer
to the qualified compulsory heirs of the deceased person rendering election
service under this Act;
(b) Commission shall refer to
the Commission on Elections;
(c) Compensation shall refer
to per diem, honoraria, or allowances granted to the Chairperson and
members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI), Special Board of Election Inspectors
(SBEI), Board of Election Tellers (BET), Special Board of Election Tellers
(SBET), hereinafter collectively referred to as “Electoral Boards”, or
Department of Education Supervisor Official (DESO), and their respective
support staff under this Act;
(d) Department or DepED
shall refer to the Department of Education;
(e) Election-related risk
shall refer to any death or injury /sustained by reason of or on the occasion
of the performance of election service or duties;
(f) Persons rendering election service
shall refer to persons appointed by the Commission to render election-related
service as Chairperson or member of the Electoral Boards and DESO, and their
respective support staff; and
(g) Other benefits shall
refer to death and/or hospitalization benefits granted to persons rendering
election service or to their beneficiaries under this Act, including the
provision for legal assistance and legal indemnification.
SEC. 3. Rendering of Election
Service. – The Electoral Boards to be constituted by the Commission shall
be composed of a Chairperson and two (2) members, all of whom shall be public
school teachers who are willing and available to render election service.
Should there be a lack of public
school teachers willing, available or qualified to serve, the Commission may
instead appoint the following persons in this order of preference:
(a) Private school teachers;
(b) National government employees:
(1) DepED non-teaching personnel;
(2) Other national government
officials and employees holding regular or permanent positions, excluding
uniformed personnel of the Department of National Defense and all its attached
agencies;
(c) Members of the
Commission-accredited citizen arms or other civil society organizations and
nongovernmental organizations duly accredited by the Commission; and
(d) Any registered voter of the city
or municipality of known integrity and competence who is not connected with any
candidate or political party.
In cases where the peace and order
situation so requires as determined by the Commission and where there are no
qualified voters willing to serve, uniformed personnel of the Philippine
National Police shall be deputized to render election service as a last resort.
SEC. 4. Honoraria and Allowances.
– Persons rendering election service shall be entitled to honoraria, travel
allowance, and such other benefits as may be granted by the Commission.
For the first implementation of this
Act, the following shall be entitled to the corresponding honoraria:
Chairperson of Electoral Boards
|
P6,000.00
|
Members of Electoral Boards
|
P5.000.00
|
DESO
|
P4,000.00
|
Support Staff
|
P2.000.00
|
All of the foregoing shall be
entitled to an additional travel allowance of One thousand pesos (P1,000.00)
each.
Such honoraria and allowances shall
be paid within fifteen (15) days from the date of election.
Such amounts shall be reviewed by
the Commission in consultation with the DepEd every three (3) years from the
effectivity of this Act, but in no case, shall the revised amounts be lower
than herein provided.
SEC. 5. Service Credit. – A
minimum of five (5) days service credit shall accrue to all government
officials and employees serving as members of the Electoral Boards and DESO,
and their respective support staff.
SEC. 6. Other Benefits. –
Persons rendering election service shall be entitled to death and/or medical
assistance for election-related risks to be drawn from the trust fund provided
in this Act.
(a) Death Benefits – The
amount of Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00) shall be awarded to the
beneficiaries in accordance with the implementing rules and regulations of this
Act. Such amount shall be reviewed by the Commission every three (3) years
thereafter, but in no case shall the revised amount be lower than herein provided.
(b) Medical Assistance – Persons
rendering election service shall be entitled to medical assistance in such
amount as may be determined by the Commission, sufficient to answer for medical
and hospitalization expenses, until recovery.
SEC. 7. Legal Assistance. –
Persons rendering election service are hereby authorized to engage the services
of government or private lawyers immediately upon receipt of notice that a
civil or criminal action, suit or administrative proceeding is filed against
them in connection with their election service. The lawyer’s fee shall be part
of the indemnification package under this Act, subject to the provisions of the
immediately succeeding section.
SEC. 8. Indemnification. –
The Commission shall establish an equitable legal indemnification package for
persons rendering election service which shall be in the form of legal
assistance and other forms of legal protection and indemnification for all
legal costs and expenses reasonably incurred by such persons in any administrative,
civil, or criminal action, suit or proceeding to which they have been made a
party by reason of the performance of their functions or duties, unless they
are finally adjudged in such action or proceeding to be guilty of an election
offense.
The legal assistance and
indemnification shall not cover any action or suit initiated by a person
rendering election service in his or her personal capacity or on behalf of the
Commission, unless such action, proceeding, or claim was authorized by the
Commission.
SEC. 9. Procedure. – The
claimants shall file their respective claims for legal assistance and
indemnification with their respective agencies and shall secure the approval of
their respective heads of agencies on the terms and conditions of the
engagement of counsel. Private individuals rendering election service shall
file their claims with the Commission.
If the claimant is found not guilty
of an election offense, he or she shall liquidate his or her cash advances or
be allowed reimbursement for reasonable expenses, as the case may be. However,
if the claimant is found to be guilty of an election offense, he or she shall
be denied reimbursement or if cash advances have been made, he or she shall
return the cash advance made through salary deduction or reimbursement, as may
be applicable.
The funds to be used for the grant
of legal assistance and indemnification shall be drawn from the agency’s annual
appropriation and from the trust fund provided under this Act.
SEC. 10. Election Offense. –
Any person who makes or causes the delay in the payment of the honoraria and
allowances due persons rendering election service beyond the prescribed period
of fifteen (15) days from the date of election shall be liable for an election
offense.
SEC. 11. Establishment and Administration
of a Trust Fund. – The Commission shall establish a special trust fund for
medical assistance, death benefits, legal assistance and indemnification as
provided under this Act. The trust fund shall not be used for proposes other
than what are provided for by this Act.
SEC. 12. Appropriation Clause. –
The initial funding of this Act shall be charged against the current year’s
appropriations of the Commission. Thereafter, such amount as may be necessary
for the continued implementation of this Act shall be included in the annual
General Appropriations Act.
SEC. 13. Implementing Rules and
Regulations. – Within ninety (90) days from the effectivity of this Act,
the Commission with the assistance of the DepED, Office of the Solicitor
General, Department of Justice, National Teacher Organizations, Election
Monitoring Organizations and such other civil society organizations as may be
determined by the Commission shall formulate the implementing rules and
regulations of this Act.
SEC. 14. Transitory Clause. –
Within thirty (30) days after the effectivity of this Act, the Commission shall
determine if it still has material time to implement Section 3 hereof on the
non-compulsory election service of public school teachers in the 2016 national
and local elections, otherwise the same shall be implemented in subsequent
elections.
SEC. 15. Repealing Clause. –
All laws, decrees, orders, and issuances, or portions thereof, which are
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, are hereby repealed, amended or
modified accordingly.
SEC. 16. Separability Clause.
– Should any provision of this Act or part hereof be declared unconstitutional,
the other provisions or parts not affected thereby shall remain valid and
effective.
SEC. 17. Effectivity Clause. –
This Act shall take effect immediately after its publication in two (2)
newspapers of general circulation.
Approved,
Senate Bill No. 2178, which was
approved by the Senate on January 25, 2016, was adopted as an amendment to
House Bill No. 5412 by the House of Representatives on January 26, 2016.
Approved: APR 08 2016
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