For as long as people can remember, public school teachers have been at the center of Philippine elections, checking arriving voters against precinct lists, giving them their ballots to fill up, and generally telling them how to go about casting their votes. For the first time, in next year’s elections, many precincts in the country may be manned instead by other government employees or even by private individuals, with the approval of House Bill 5412 by the House of Representatives. The bill provides that teachers’ services in elections shall no longer be compulsory. They have the option to decline election service, in which case the Comelec may call on others in a list of approved substitutes to take their place. The services of public school teachers may have originally been thought of because Philippine elections have always been held in public schools. Over the years, however, some teachers’ organizations deplored [...]
