Public school teachers slammed the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to explain the reason behind the months-long delay in the release of their Performance-Based bonus (PBB).
Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) Chairman Benjo Basas said that this is the first time the PBB release reached the next fiscal year. The PBB expected by teachers as incentive for their performance last school year 2016-2017 is still in ‘process.’
According to Basas, it should have been released in the third quarter last year.
“Teachers are still waiting for this incentive which is mandated by law. And since this is funded for fiscal year 2016, we believe there is no reason for the government to further delay its release,” he said.
“We believe that we deserve an explanation why all these happen. We call on both the secretaries of the DBM and DepEd to comment on this in public to end all the speculations circulating in the field,” he added.
Education Undersecretary Jesus Mateo answered the said speculations stating that there had been delays in the processing of clearances that would pave way for the release of the performance-based bonus.
One of the reasons he cited was the failed bidding that resulted in the suspension of the National Achievement Test.
Mateo added that they are expecting the bonus for some of the regions to be released by February since the required documents were already submitted to DBM.
The agency targets to complete the release of PBB for all DepEd employees by the end of the current school year in April.
Under the PBB system, government employees shall receive cash incentives based on the assessment of their respective performances.
The release of PBB has always been delayed since 2012, but the last school year has been the most delayed so far.
