Teachers expect to receive Christmas bonus today

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) is closely monitoring the ongoing issuance of the productivity enhancement incentive (PEI), otherwise known as the Christmas bonus, of public school teachers and non-teaching workers.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said DepEd personnel in the division and regional offices are working “double time” so that teachers can receive their performance enhancement incentive or bonus before Christmas.

“All of our 16 regions have submitted reports saying that the payment of the Christmas bonus is being processed round the clock at the division level,” Luistro said. 

He said that regional offices in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4-A, 4-B, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, Caraga (Region 13) and the Cordillera Administrative Region report that the processing of payment of teachers’ bonuses is on-going and teachers can expect to receive their PEIs by today, Dec. 23. 

Luistro said that DepEd was already looking at the report from the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) that teachers in Parañaque, Pangasinan, Tacloban, Masbate, Taguig, Iloilo, Davao and Samar have not yet received the bonus pay.

“All employees of DepEd are working hand in hand to make sure everybody gets their Christmas bonus before Christmas,” Luistro assured.   

“While our finance personnel fast track the processing of payment to teachers, our teachers provide us feedback on the status of release of funds to guide us where help is needed,” he added.

Benjo Basas, Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) president, has already expressed their appreciation for the DepEd efforts to fasttrack the release of the PEI.

 “We appreciate the efforts made by the DepEd leadership to ensure that there would be a merry Christmas for its half million employees, most of them teachers who are selflessly and tirelessly performing their tasks for the entire year, who deserve to be rewarded. Again, we hope that it would be given before Christmas Eve. After all, it is intended for the celebration of this holiday season,” Basas said.

Armando Ruiz, DepEd assistant secretary for finance, said this year was the first time that DepEd was issuing the full P10,000 PEI in one tranche.

He explained that in previous years, DepEd had issued the bonus in two installments, issuing first the P7,000 portion of the bonus from the national government coming from the DBM.

Luistro issued a reminder to teachers and other personnel to be careful when moving funds.

“To ensure everyone gets their share on time, we must be vigilant especially when we pay the bonuses in cash,” he warned.

Last year, the P4.9 million worth of Christmas bonus of some teachers in Rizal was taken by armed robbers causing a delayed issuance of the bonus for Rizal province teachers.