Bacolod Commission on Elections officer Mavil Majarucon said the 30 public school teachers, who have a pending cases with the COMELEC, could not serve as board of election inspectors in this year's election.

The issue was raised by Bacolod Division Schools Superintendent Milagros Gonzales during the Peace and Order Council meeting yesterday at the Casino Filipino Hotel in Bacolod City.

Two cases of election offense were filed by former Bacolod Mayor Luzviminda Valdez against the teachers after she lost in the 2004 elections.

Gonzales informed Majarucon yesterday that, because of the incident, many teachers do not want to serve in the election anymore.

She said the BEI have not been paid a single centavo for their service (per diem) and one of them has already died.

Mararucon said their case was raised by the DepEd during the meeting of the COMELEC regional directors two weeks ago. She said the COMELEC is planning to deputize the Public Attorneys Office to defend the teachers who will serve in this year's election in case complaints will be filed against them.

Mayor Evelio Leonardia said he believes the COMELEC will be able to resolve the problem. He said it has been a practice for COMELEC and the DepEd to look for other citizens who will supervise the elections and the counting of votes in case there is a shortage of BEI's.

Leonardia said he learned from some teachers that it is only here in Bacolod, where a candidate had filed a case against the board of election inspectors. The officials of the Department of Education he met in Manila could not believe it ever happened, he said.

Leonardia said that, in the first place, the teachers are already overburdened by their election duties. "So I commiserate with them," he said, "because after all their sacrifices, this is what they get."

He believes that, in the end, the teachers will be vindicated, because he believes they were fair and honest when they conducted the elections in 2004, Leonardia said.

Meanwhile, Majarucon said there is an amendment in the Comelec Resolution which provides that instead of only having 10 poster areas, candidates are allowed to put up one common poster area in every barangay with a population of 5,000 registered voters. She said the candidates have to inform COMELEC where their common poster areas will be set up.*CGS

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