A construction site in Quezon City is shown in this file photo. The regional wage board on Monday approved a P25 increase in the daily minimum pay in the National Capital Region. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News

MANILA -- (UPDATE 2) The National Capital Region wage board approved a P25 increase in the minimum wage, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said Monday.

This will raise to P500 to P537 the minimum wage across different sectors in the NCR. It will take effect 15 days from publication, Bello said.

The P10 cost of living adjustment or COLA was also integrated in the minimum wage, he said.

The minimum wage hike was closer to the P20 offer of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines. The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress had asked for P334.

The wage board considered the capacity of employers and the economy to absorb a wage hike, said National Wages and Productivity Commission Executive Director Criselda Sy.

"It is a potential source of second round inflationary effect. Ibig sabihin po kung ang inflation level natin ay 6.7 percent mas maaari pong tumaas pa diyan," she said.

(The inflation level right now is 6.7 percent but it may even pick up further if we set the minimum wage too high.)

The labor department also announced a P10 basic pay increase and P10 per day COLA in Cagayan Valley, and a P12 to P20 minimum wage hike in the Mimaropa Region.

This raises the minimum wage in Cagayan Valley to a range of P320 to P360, and in Mimamropa to a range of P283 to P320.

Before the official announcement, the ALU-TUCP sought a P100 adjustment, said its spokesperson, Alan Tanjusay.

"Yung P25 e baryang barya ito sa mga medium and large enterprises," Tanjusay told DZMM.

(P25 is spare change for medium and large enterprises.)

"Baka ho pwedeng P100 man lang yung dagdag sa sahod. Kung P25, wala po, hindi kayang bumili ng isang kilong NFA rice yan," he said.

(We hope for a P100 increase. A P25 adjustment is nothing and can't even buy a kilo of NFA rice.)

Labor has 10 days to appeal the wage board's decision, Sy said. No such appeal has succeeded, even when it reached the Supreme Court, she said.