In response to concerns expressed by teachers over orders from schools divisions for the submission of 2023 Individual Performance Commitment (IPCRF) and Review Forms and Office Performance Commitment and Review Forms (OPCRF) under the Results-Based Performance Management System (RPMS) within July, teachers and education support personnel under the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines staged a protest at the Department of Education (DepEd) Central Office to condemn the illegal orders forcing teachers to submit these outputs and urged the agency to enforce Executive Order (EO) No. 61, issued on June 3, 2024 which immediately suspends the RPMS and the Performance-Based Incentive System (PBIS).
“These directives impose unjust pressure on teachers to submit non-mandated documents, blatantly defying Executive Order No. 61, which explicitly and immediately suspends RPMS and PBIS. This is a glaring example of DepEd’s consistent overburdening of teachers with excessive responsibilities, even forcing compliance with outdated performance review systems which not only violates an executive order but also inflicts undue stress and workload,” stated Ruby Bernardo, ACT NCR Union President.
ACT and ACT Teachers Party-list have long exposed RPMS as onerous to teachers and education support personnel and an ill-suited mechanism to measure their competencies so as to incentivize and improve their performance. Teachers and its genuine representative in Congress have also demanded for its abolition through collective actions and legislative efforts, asserting that it has not only been redundant but also perpetuated the exploitation of government employees, particularly teachers, by ignoring the harsh realities of their working conditions and imposing unrealistic performance expectations. Additionally, the incentive structure under PBIS have fostered inequity and unhealthy competition, disproportionately benefiting higher-level officials while neglecting the contributions of rank-and-file workers.
“Both RPMS and PBIS were implemented under the guise of efficiency, driven by foreign interests, and have prioritized austerity over the welfare of employees. The government must acknowledge these fundamental flaws and move towards completely abolishing such exploitative frameworks to ensure fair and just treatment of all public sector workers,” Bernardo added.
“We urge the DepEd to respect the executive order and cease any further orders for these submissions. We also reiterate our call for the even distribution of the allocated budget for PBB 2023 among all government employees, extensive democratic consultation among public sector teachers and employees to gather insights and demands in regards to performance evaluation and incentive systems, and public sector unions representation in all meetings and mechanisms that aim to craft alternative performance evaluation and incentive schemes,” ended Bernardo.
