The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) on Tuesday welcomed the decision of the AO 25 to grant all Department of Education’s (DepEd’s) school-based personnel the 2018 Performance Based Bonus (PBB) despite DepEd’s non-compliance on the requirements set forth by the task force.
“Clearly it is the product of teachers clamor. Teachers and employees deserve to receive this bonus as they faithfully and even went beyond their means to deliver their functions,” said ACT in a statement.
“With this decision, we call on the DepEd and DBM to immediately process the release of the bonus as this is badly needed by our teachers and employees with the continuing wrath of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) in the country,” the group said.
ACT further appealed to AO 25, on humanitarian ground, that all other employees of DepEd receive the same. “Everybody is affected by the crisis,” they said.
Meanwhile, ACT continues to receive many reports of unpaid special hardship allowance and other related benefits. “We call on DepEd to immediately act on this promptly,” the group said.
DepEd on Monday announced that school-based personnel in the department are now eligible for the Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018.
DepEd said that PBB was an “incentive given to government employees in accordance with their performance and contribution to the accomplishment of their agency’s overall targets and commitments.”
The AO25 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) sets “specific conditions and reviews the agency’s compliance and accomplishments within a fiscal year to determine the eligibility of the agency and its personnel to receive PBB.”
DepEd said the Task Force “has decided to grant the 2018 PBB for teaching and non-teaching school-based personnel in all elementary and secondary schools nationwide” subject to the submission of DepEd’s school level performance rating and ranking.
“To date, school level performance ranking reports, which will be the basis for processing the bonus, have been submitted to the Task Force and DBM for funding,” DepEd said.
Based on the assessment result of DepEd’s compliance with the PBB requirements, DepEd has been found to be non-compliant with the Transparency Seal, PhilGEPS Posting, and two other reports under General Administration and Support Services and Cross-Cutting Requirements.
This led to the decision to deny the grant of 2018 PBB of the non-school-based personnel in DepEd Central Office (CO), Regional Offices (ROs), and Schools Division Offices (SDOs).
Even with the decision of the AO25 IATF, DepEd said it is “committed to appeal for re-consideration and exhaust all possible courses of action for its non-school-based personnel to likewise receive the PBB.”
Undersecretary for Finance Service and Education Programs Delivery Unit Annalyn Sevilla said that DepEd continued to prioritize the early release of benefits and salaries of its personnel amid the public health crisis brought about by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
During the first virtual press conference by DepEd led by Education Secretary Leonor Briones, Sevilla said the salaries of DepEd personnel for March had been released. The salaries for April are also being processed and will also be released as soon as possible.
Sevilla also noted that DepEd is working on the possible early release of the mid-year bonus as well as the clothing allowance amounting to P6,000.