Public school teachers to get salary increase, performance incentives

(Photo courtesy of Laguna School Systems)

MANILA – According to Education Secretary Bro Armin Luistro, public school teachers around the country would soon receive higher wages. Luistro also disclosed that the Congress has also already started discussions on the substantial increase.

“Actually, ang pinag-uusapan na lang ngayon ay kung gaano kataas ang idadagdag (Actually, what’s being discussed right now is how much the increase is going to be),” Luistro said.

“So pag-naisama na yan sa Cabinet meeting, siguro naman seryoso na ang ating gobyerno (So if that is already included in the Cabinet meeting, our government must be serious about it),” he added.

While the salary increase is still being discussed, Luistro announced that teachers may claim their 2014 Performance Based Bonus (PBB) from September to October this year.

“The PBB shall be given to all government personnel in accordance with their contribution to the accomplishment of their department’s overall targets and commitments,” he said.

The PBB is a P5,000-P35,000 bonus given to government employees, including public school teachers who exuded exemplary performance. It is part of the Performance-Based Incentive System (PBIS) which aimed to improve the service delivery of the bureaucracy ‘by linking personnel incentives to the bureau or delivery unit’s performance and by recognizing and rewarding exemplary performance to foster teamwork and meritocracy.’

“The performance of each agency shall be measured using verifiable and credible indicators… Once the agency acquires eligibility to PBB, the delivery units and personnel shall be evaluated according to their performance in the achievement of the agency’s performance targets,” Luistro explained.

“Delivery units and personnel within the agency shall be ranked [and this] ranking shall determine the performance category and level of PBB that each personnel shall receive,” he added.