By Merlina Hernando Malipot
The Department of Education (DepEd) confirmed that more and more of its regional offices have started releasing the Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 to school-based personnel.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
Issuing a statement, DepEd said that the Regions IV-A (CALABARZON), IV-B (MIMAROPA), V, VII, XI, XII, and the National Capital Region (NCR) “began releasing the incentive” on February 13. DepEd Region III was the “first to release” the 2017 PBB to its school-based personnel last January 21.
DepEd noted that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Central Office (CO) “already endorsed the processing and release of funds” for Regions I, II, VIII, IX, X, and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) to the respective DBM Regional Offices. DepEd said that the DBM CO is “currently processing” the FY 2017 PBB for Regions VI and XIII (CARAGA).
The PBB is “a top-up incentive given to personnel of bureaus or delivery unit in accordance to their contribution to the accomplishment of their department’s overall targets and commitments.” The AO25 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) “sets specific conditions and reviews the agency’s accomplishments within a fiscal year to determine the eligibility of the department and its personnel” to receive PBB.
Earlier, a group of teachers included the delayed release of the PBB as among the “lawful compensation and benefits” the government has failed to pay teachers. The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) alleged that aside from being “highly exploitative” – as teachers are “reportedly required to deliver 130% performance under extremely tight means” – the “paltry bonus still hasn’t been released, two years later, to 15 of the 16 regions that are eligible for the benefit.”