Assert-National Capital Region

STATEMENT ON THE DEATH OF A TEACHER DURING CLASSROOM OBSERVATION AND THE URGENT NEED TO REFORM DEPED’S WORKING CONDITIONS

ASSERT expresses its deepest condolences to the family, colleagues, and students of Teacher Agnes Buenaflor of Pedro E. Diaz High School, Muntinlupa City, who collapsed and later died on January 7, 2026, while conducting her class during a scheduled Classroom Observation (CO).

This tragic incident must serve as a stark reminder to the Department of Education.

While the classroom observation is only one component of teacher evaluation, we assert that its current design and implementation have become excessive, time-consuming, and unnecessary, failing to reflect the depth and complexity of teachers’ work. Teachers have demonstrated their competence through years — even decades — of service. The manner in which CO is imposed today has become largely bureaucratic, disconnected from classroom realities, and a waste of valuable instructional time and energy.

Teaching in DepEd has come to resemble sending soldiers into battle with weapons that are inadequate, ill-suited, and far from sufficient for the realities they face. Teachers face rigid requirements, overwhelming paperwork, unrealistic performance demands, and constant surveillance, without the institutional support necessary to survive the profession. These pressures fall most heavily on women teachers, who carry a double burden of paid work in school and unpaid labor at home.

Many teachers now lament “halos hilahin na lang namin ang mga araw,” struggling simply to reach retirement. Countless educators are forced to remain in service until age 65, not because they still find joy in teaching, but to survive financially. For many, daily teaching has become a suffering rather than a fulfillment.

ASSERT calls on the Department of Education to:

1. Immediately review and overhaul the CO and teacher evaluation framework;
2. Remove non-essential, redundant, and oppressive requirements;
3. Institutionalize comprehensive mental-health programs for teachers;
4. End harassment, intimidation, and power-tripping in the bureaucracy;
5. Build a genuinely healthy, humane, and joyful learning environment.

The life and death of Teacher Buenaflor must not fade into silence. Her passing must not become just another statistic.
We now place the challenge squarely before the Department of Education:

Will you continue to manage teachers through pressure and paperwork —
Or will you finally choose to govern with care, responsibility, and genuine respect for those who carry the nation’s classrooms on their backs?

January 9, 2026

SARO and NCA for PBB 2023 of National Capital Region for Elementary and HS level is OUT!

ASSERT on Results-Based Performance Management System (RBPMS) and Performance-Based Incentive (PBI) or Executive Order 61:

BEYOND THE SCRAPPING OF RBPMS AND PBI, WE DEMAND FOR SALARY INCREASE TO UPFLIFT TEACHERS' CONDITION

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has issued Executive Order 61, effectively suspending the implementation of the Results-Based Performance Management System (RBPMS) and Performance-Based Incentive (PBI) in the civil service. The President cited redundancy and duplication with existing internal and external performance audits and evaluations as the primary reasons for this suspension.

He emphasized that the RBPMS and PBI systems should be streamlined, aligned, and harmonized with ease-of-doing business initiatives.

According to the President, the government performance evaluation process and incentive system must be reformed to foster a "more responsive, efficient, agile, and competent bureaucracy."

The RBPMS had become a significant burden not only for teachers but also for other government employees. The system's complexity and additional workload were seen as counterproductive, thus a review and overhaul were deemed necessary.

Action and Solidarity for the Empowerment of Teachers believes that the suspension of RBPMS and PBI is a positive step. However, the teachers should still be paid their Performance-Based Bonus for the years 2022 to present.

Executive Order 61 does not address the most pressing issue teachers face: their long-overdue SALARY INCREASE. The Filipino teachers have consistently been the nation's unsung heroes and endured numerous challenges with minimal recognition and compensation. Teachers must be properly compensated for their relentless service and hard work.

ASSERT firmly stands, that a SALARY INCREASE is essential to truly recognize the sacrifices and contributions of teachers.
ASSERT calls on the current government to prioritize and heed the call for the teachers' salaries. This move is crucial to ensuring that teachers who play a fundamental role in shaping the nation's future are adequately supported and valued.

We insist that improving teachers' compensation is not only a matter of justice but also a strategic investment in the country's educational system and overall development.

Vote ASSERT!!!

Thoughts to contemplate....

I was greatly saddened to share with you that a young attorney could be so downright insolent to an old paralegal counsel of ASSERT-NCR. At his stature and old age he was already a legend and one of the guardians and pillars of the Magna Carta of Public School Teachers or RA 4670. She did not acknowledged his experience as a paralegal renowned all over the Philippines and as my rightful counsel.

I suggest that the Region should review hiring attorneys in their respective Divisions for they do not side with helpless teachers being bullied by rich and powerful superiors who do not have the means to acquire an attorney in case they are harasssed for standing up with superiors in power and position who are abusive of their acquired titles.

The region should not force teachers to hire an attorney to defend themselves.

A paralegal and a competent one like what we have in ASSERT should not be discriminated nor insulting be so belittled, his experience is far more richer, varied and encompassing.

Attorneys in the region should review their decisions and cases, for most of them in the Department of Education are just puppets serving the capricious whims of their abusive regional director even if the case should just be so easily dismissed.

Teachers are not born stupid, some are well learned also in the rule of law. Caveat Emptor!