To the AO 25 Inter-Agency Task Force: 

We, public school teachers and employees raise our united call for the grant of Performance-based bonus for Fiscal Year 2023 (PBB 2023) to all teachers and employees of the Department of Education. We maintain that such demand is highly justified given the following reasons: 

1. We have long fulfilled our duties for FY 2023 and our performance have already been rated after completing the voluminous portfolios required of us by the Results-based Performance Management System. Our more than satisfactory service delivery as evidenced by our performance ratings is enough justification that we deserve to be granted with PBB 2023;
2. The 2023 DepEd management’s non-compliance with certain policies and procedures relevant to AO 25 IATF’s evaluation of agency performance is not the doing of teachers and rank-and-file employees and we, therefore, should not be made to suffer due to the lapses of those responsible.
3. As low-salaried teachers and employees, we truly need the relief that the PBB 2023 can provide our families, especially amid the incessantly rising prices of goods and worsening economic crisis. 

The distressing news of DepEd’s ineligibility to receive the PBB 2023 is dampening the morale of public school teachers and employees who have long been overworked, underpaid and under-supported. We call on the AO 25 IATF to resolve this quandary in favor of our rank-and-file civil servants before we are ordered to render our services again in the coming school opening.