THE Department of Education (DepEd) said that it is open to deliberations on the proposal to increase the salary of public school teachers to P50,000 a month.

Education Undersecretary and spokesman Michael Wesley Poa said DepEd would always advocate for additional benefits for teachers.

ACT Teachers Rep. Francisca Castro, Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Danniel Manuel filed House Bill 9920 which seeks to upgrade the salary of teachers from Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 15 "or whichever is higher."

The proponents of the bill said that the current salary of teachers is insufficient to meet the family living wage of P1,119 per day or P33,570 per month.

Poa said DepEd could not suggest the ideal salary for public school teachers as this would depend on the results of a World Bank study due in a couple of weeks.

"They are just requesting additional data from DepEd which we are now processing," he said.

He said the data from the World Bank would be used in deliberations in the House of Representatives.

"The department will diligently participate in the Congressional deliberations for the said bill," Poa said.