A unique concept has come to the Philippines to fulfill the need for contactless delivery and safe storage during this time of the pandemic. 

The smart locker service has become extremely popular in Asian countries. Very soon, the QUBE Smart Locker powered by Box24 will be installed in various locations such as DMCI Homes, MyTown Co-Living, Serendra under Ayala Malls, and many more pilot locations within the metro.

Elcid Lao, CEO of LAUNDRAFÉBox Corporation—the company behind QUBE Smart Locker— expounds, “QUBE Smart Locker is a brand-new service provider and system on its own. It is the first smart locker system in the Philippines. We are confident that Filipinos will embrace it as the concept offers a graceful start in innovative technology.”

By downloading the Box24 app, clients are entitled to 24/7-access to smart lockers that can be used for a variety of drop-off and pick-up services such as laundry, logistics, storage, bills payment, and shopping. 

Clients can enjoy the convenience of having a personal locker that is near their own residence or workplace. The contemporary service also allows parcel pick-ups during the client’s preferred time without worrying whether the building staff has received it or not. Most of all, the smart locker totally eliminates the precarious face-to-face encounters associated with delivery of parcel and goods. New users are also entitled to a Php. 150.00 off on their first transaction by using the promo code NEW150. This promo code is available for one-time use only and exclusively for first time users.

Cid underscores the contactless features of QUBE smart locker by saying, “The smart lockers are 100% cashless. Clients can pay online through the mobile application available on Android and iOS. Thus, the smart lockers ensure safety against the exposure to COVID-19 or other contagious diseases.” 

The QUBE smart locker runs 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. A barcode scanner is installed within the smart locker for enabling the QuickPin. Clients or courier riders would retrieve this one-time QuickPin through the digital monitor to open the locker and access its contents. 

Thanks to the contactless payment technology powered by 2C2P, clients can pay for the services through the app itself or the smart locker via debit card, credit card, GCash and PayMaya.

The world has certainly embraced the smart locker lifestyle. In Thailand for instance, the smart locker network includes around 200 condominiums and buildings. Customers who are loyal to the service appreciate the convenience of having the ability to order and pick up their purchases from the locker at any time. Likewise, online sellers declare that they enjoy the ease of sending off orders at their most convenient business hours and hassle-free logistics. 

The potential satisfaction extends beyond the users of the app. QUBE powered by BOX24 welcomes entrepreneurs and building owners who would like to set up the smart locker in a space with high traffic such as condominiums, office buildings, or even malls. The QUBE smart locker has various features that make it an attractive business option. 

It is electricity operated; once plugged into an outlet, the smart locker is instantly operational. QUBE smart locker is powered by 5G unlimited Internet data so that connectivity to the Internet is smooth and seamless, even in areas that are considered as “dead spots.” The smart locker also has an auto-shutdown feature that prevents it from being opened when it has been moved or tampered with. Customers and smart locker owners can have the peace of mind that their property is safe from theft or damage. 

What’s more; the QUBE smart locker is touch screen operated, which enables business partners to display ads in the smart locker monitor. 

As restrictions are being lifted, and commerce, tourism, and other activities are slowly re-starting amidst the threat of COVID-19, Cid sees QUBE as an essential service.  He reiterates, “This pandemic is nothing but a time of health uncertainty. Even though many individuals practice health protocols in order to stay safe, staying at home encourages our citizens to adjust to a new normal by purchasing items and ordering food from the safety of their own home. Hence, smart lockers can definitely ensure contactless transactions to secure the idea of safe buying and moving for every Filipino utilizing online shopping service.”

To download the app, go to the App Store for iOS or Google Play for Android and search for BOX24 or scan the QR code below! Once downloaded, tap on “sign up” and provide the necessary details. After signing up, tap on the service that you desire: Wash for laundry, Drop for personal storage, Pay for payments, Shop for e-commerce and online shopping, and Go for parcel movement and delivery. Visit QUBE on Facebook (facebook.com/qubesmartlockers), Instagram (@qube_24.7) and Twitter (@qubeph) for updates and more details. 

Advanced diagnosis and treatment of digestive cancers highlighted in recent BusinessWorld Insights webinar

While cancer is known to potentially strike one’s heart or lungs, it can also attack within one’s digestive system, including the liver, gallbladder, bile duct, and pancreas.

In fact, according to data from World Health Organization, colorectal and liver cancers are among the top five cancers in the Philippines. World Cancer Research Fund, meanwhile, noted that cancer in the digestive system is the fourth common type of cancer occurring in men and the seventh most commonly occurring cancer in women.

No wonder digestive cancers should be another area of concern for many with regards to cancer, and taking care of our gut should not be overlooked.

Last March 10, BusinessWorld, in partnership with Mount Elizabeth Hospital and Parkway Cancer Centre (PCC), held a webinar that gathered cancer specialists from Singapore to discuss digestive cancers as well as the latest breakthroughs in diagnosing and treating these diseases.

Digestive cancer in brief
According to Dr. Foo Kian Fong, Senior Consultant in Medical Oncology at PCC, the risk factors of digestive cancers include age, genetic factors, family history, and underlying conditions. There are also lifestyle factors, such as alcohol, obesity, high-fat diet, smoking, physical inactivity, and lack of sleep.

For liver cancer, in particular, risk factors include hepatitis B or C; liver cirrhosis or hardening of liver; a fatty liver; and hereditary hemochromatosis or the overabsorption of iron.

According to Dr. Chua Tju Siang, Senior Consultant Gastroenterologist at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, digestive cancers hardly have symptoms in their early stages. These can be limited to gastric discomfort, stomach pain, or even change in bowel habits (e.g., from once a day to thrice in two weeks). Digestive cancers become more apparent when pain is already being felt.

“For liver and pancreatic cancers, jaundice is a problem, wherein the obstruction of the bile duct leads to the yellowing of the skin and the eyes,” Dr. Chua said, adding that suggested weight loss not assisted by any regimen and swallowing with pain can be other symptoms for advanced digestive cancers.

Briefing about pancreatic and gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs), Dr. Liau Kui Hin, Senior Consultant Surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, pointed out that the pancreas consists of two types of organs — one to aid in digestion and the other to regulate body functions/metabolism. Both functions can be compromised when cancer enters either organ.

“Majority of cancer we see, about 90%, come from the mother cells that produce digestive juice, or the organ that is responsible for digestion. This is called adenocarcinoma,” Dr. Liau explained. “The other type of cancer, which we call neuroendocrine tumor of the pancreas, is a tumor whose mother cell comes from neuroendocrine cells.”

Advanced diagnosis
Like any type of cancer, successful treatment of digestive cancers require an effective diagnosis; and recent advances in diagnostic methods have improved accuracy.

Endoscopy, a method usually used for diagnosing the digestive tract, esophagus, colon, and stomach has extremely advanced, Dr. Chua noted, with 4K scopes and zoom scopes providing clearer views.

There is also endoscopic ultrasound that improves the diagnosis in the pancreas, gallbladder, and bile duct which are in an area found difficult to obtain a biopsy. “[T]his helps us evaluate the pancreas, especially if we see mass, we can take biopsy and confirm that this is indeed pancreatic cancer or not,” the gastroenterologist added.

Aside from endoscopic diagnoses, other advanced procedures include endoscopic submucosal dissection, which can remove stomach cancer from the surface and hence preserve the organ; and endoscopy for palliation, which can deal with pancreatic cancer when it obstructs nearby organs.

Dr. Chua noted that Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore is very equipped with advanced technology for diagnostic procedures. “Since 2006, we started introducing endoscopic ultrasound. Not so long ago, we’ve upgraded it into a better version,” he said. “[Our technologies] are all very good at producing a [good] environment to carry out these procedures.”

Advanced surgery
Likewise, treatment of digestive cancers has improved with the advancement of surgical techniques. Dr. Liau noted that whereas before, the instruments they used were heavy and cumbersome, now they are using smaller tools and apply advanced techniques such as keyhole surgery — all of which can also be availed at Mount Elizabeth Hospital.

With keyhole or laparoscopic surgery, which is enabled through advancements in miniaturization and nanotechnology, tumors can be better removed while bleeding can be controlled.

“The advancement in surgical technology provides safer operations with improved outcomes in term of lower mortality from the operations and better long term survival rate,” the surgeon added, noting that Whipple operation with mortality more than 20% has since been reduced to less than 3% to 5% in the recent years in centers with experienced pancreatic surgeon.

For Dr. Foo, advanced diagnosis and surgery altogether help in better identifying and, eventually, managing digestive cancers.

“Advances in biomolecular technology help us subtype the different types of cancers, which also helps us in the management. Advances in immunology help us treat patients through immunotherapy and extending their survival,” he added.

Prevention
While there are now improved ways to diagnose and treat digestive cancer, prevention through a healthy lifestyle is nevertheless better, as the doctors stressed.

Dr. Chua noted that foods that may increase the risk of digestive cancers include fatty foods, red meat, and processed meat. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified processed meat as ‘carcinogenic to humans,’ while red meat was classified ‘probably carcinogenic to humans.’

On the other hand, the gastroenterologist continued, cruciferous vegetables have been shown to reduce the risk of esophageal and colon cancers.

Exercising helps as well, noting that walking or cycling for an hour can reduce one’s risk of colon cancer by about 10% to 15%.

In addition, Dr. Liau pointed out that tackling food safety will also help address digestive cancers as environments are still vulnerable to pollution and so food can get contaminated.

“Majority of the cancers come from the digestive and respiratory systems, and this really impresses on us that we are living in a polluted environment, and the food that we take may not be 100% secure and safe. We need to mitigate some of these risks,” he explained.

For inquiries, please contact Parkway Hospitals Singapore — Manila office located at G/F-B, Marco Polo Hotel, Meralco Avenue and Sapphire Street, Ortigas Center, Pasig City 1600, e-mail manila.ph@parkwaypantai.com or call 0917-526-7576.

The world has completely changed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the worst global crises since the Second World War. Millions of people have been affected, with a death toll of nearly two and a half million worldwide, and millions more losing their livelihoods as a result of the economic catastrophe that followed.

Yet according to many leaders, from the United Nations, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the International Federation of Red Cross, and Red Crescent societies, things could get much, much worse.

The looming crisis, of course, is climate change.

Philanthropist Bill Gates put it most succinctly: “By 2060, climate change could be just as deadly as COVID-19, and by 2100 it could be five times as deadly.”

If the current crisis is any indication, it is that the world is in dire need of a change, a paradigm shift that puts the good of society and community at the heart of business and policy making.

A champion of change

For over 40 years, Energy Development Corp. (EDC) has been quietly generating power from geothermal sources, ultimately becoming the Philippines’ leading renewable energy producer and the world’s largest vertically integrated geothermal producer.

But with the time left to mitigate the coming disaster running out, the company has chosen to no longer remain silent.

“We have a responsibility to our planet and to humanity, and we have chosen to take a stand. That stance imposes a duty on us to use our voice to send a distress call to as many people and organizations as possible because we are running out of time,” said Richard Tantoco, EDC president and COO, in a talk on the call to be regenerative that he delivered at the Global Catholic Climate Movement and Focolare Movement’s conference held late last year.

EDC has realigned its business, resources, and capabilities to fulfill a new chosen purpose: to forge collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future. Embarking on this path, the company seeks to elevate the environment, its employees, communities, customers, other co-creators, and shareholders to create a wider, more positive impact on the planet.

“While our investors are important, regenerative thinking demands that we look at our business from a wider lens than just profitability,” Mr. Tantoco said.

“The transformation cannot be done by entities working alone. We are mindful that we exist within highly diverse and nested systems, and that we must all play unique, reciprocal, and synchronized roles in a world that needs to be healed. Our collective success will be measured by how quickly we can decouple economic and social prosperity from the destruction of our planet’s life support systems,” he added.

Forging regenerative partnerships

Genuine care and compassion is at the heart of EDC’s newfound purpose, as it seeks to create lasting partnerships that would benefit society at large. With its employees, EDC strives to foster a healthy and positive working environment, an effort that was made abundantly more important in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While EDC required most of its employees to work from home, the skeletal force that operates its power plants have been provided with all they need to live and work comfortably: good sleeping quarters, appetizing food, and stable internet so they can always get in touch with their loved ones while working on site. Additionally, EDC delivered masks, comfortable office furniture and equipment, and went grocery shopping for their families while they were on duty.

“We even offered to vaccinate all employees and their families against flu and pneumonia to increase everyone’s chances of survival. Majority said yes to this offer. We provided access to counseling services for those who feel the need to take care of their mental health,” Mr. Tantoco added among other initiatives.

While its employee engagement score in 2019 already reached an all-time high for EDC at 91%, which was 3% higher than Willis Towers Watson’s global score, this genuine pampamilyang malasakit resulted in a new high with increased scores in all categories related to key engagement drivers in a quick employee pulse survey that Willis Towers Watson did last year.

“I suspect that the manner in which we care for our employees — which is nothing short of treating everyone as family — is driving these amazing engagement levels,” Mr. Tantoco said.

The same treatment is extended to EDC’s partner communities where the company helped put up their own molecular testing laboratories apart from giving food and medical supplies to medical frontliners and container vans that could be used as quarantine facilities and sleeping quarters for the medical staff on duty to enable them to strengthen their COVID-19 resilience.

Beyond the pandemic, EDC has invested heavily in education programs like its SIKAT Program, where promising students are mentored from high school until they get into the UP college system, all expenses taken care of.

In protecting the environment, of core importance to EDC, the company is continuing its longstanding program of bringing back to abundance 96 of the country’s most endangered native tree species through its BINHI greening legacy program.

“So far, close to 10,000 hectares of degraded and open forests in watersheds have been replanted with endangered indigenous tree species and fruit-bearing trees. Having geothermal reservations as vast as 1% (270,000 hectares) of our country’s total land area made us realize the need to partner with farmers and community associations and inculcate in them the value of environmental stewardship. We enabled them to help us take care of our forests. We incentivized them and helped them transform into our green warriors,” Mr. Tantoco said.

In 2019, EDC was selected by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) through its secretariat, the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), to be its first and only local Global Tree Assessment partner in the Philippines as a result of its conservation efforts under BINHI. This year, BGCI has expanded its partnership with EDC to be able to assess the status of more Philippine native tree species. EDC has also hit many regenerative targets thanks to its strong partnership with the UP-Diliman Institute of Biology and the UP-Los Baños College of Forestry and Natural Resources.

Today, EDC’s areas of operation are home to myriads of wildlife species — 291 birds, 43 bats, 25 other mammals, and 46 reptiles and amphibians, with almost half of them endemic to the Philippines.

For its customers, which are electric cooperatives, distribution, utilities, and contestables or businesses with an average electricity consumption of at least 500 kilowatts (kW), EDC has been conducting climate change workshops, and helping them find ways to reduce their own energy consumption, carbon footprint, and losses.

As for EDC’s investors, Mr. Tantoco said: “Thankfully, our shareholders share our mission of decarbonization through clean energy. And we look forward to the long journey ahead in a truly regenerative partnership with them.”

“One of our key insights is this: we know that the issues confronting us are so huge that we need everyone’s help. We will only successfully fulfill our mission if we collaborate with others.”

“This is definitely not a competitive beauty contest. It is not about which company wins the most awards,” he added.

“As our Chairman Piki Lopez keeps stressing, if we find ourselves ahead but alone at the finish line of this massive and humbling undertaking, we will then have failed in our mission,” he said.

For this reason, EDC and the rest of the Lopez group has illuminated the path to regeneration and has made a call for everyone to join them in this journey. Indeed, this daunting task of creating a livable planet for future generations lies not only in their hands but in all of ours. — Bjorn Biel M. Beltran

Golden Bay Landholdings wins big at the Outstanding Property Award London (OPAL). OPAL seeks the most exceptional architecture, interior design, and property development projects from around the world. Aspire Corporate Plaza and Garden City was awarded winners in the property development criteria of the critically-acclaimed awarding body. This is the developer’s first international win.

Golden Bay Landholdings’ COO Jardin Wong shares that he and the rest of his team are elated for the international wins. Mr. Wong reminisces on the rigorous process of perfecting both properties with their architectural partners, ASYA Design and WTA Design Studio. “We all put in the time and the effort to create projects that really go beyond boundaries. We are glad we went through that process. We really took time to understand our projects’ impact on the general environment and community around it,” Mr. Wong states.

Both developments showcase exactly what the OPAL panel was looking for: Outstanding projects addressing creativity, innovation, social impact, and sustainability while creating a unique cross-industry platform that unites experts and talents.

OPAL’s panel is composed of 29 highly-acclaimed architects, planners, interior designers, and purveyors. They judge the entries based on the project’s own merit and not against other entries. Entries are evaluated on creativity, form, function, and a clear relationship between the environment and end users.

According to OPAL, creativity alone is not enough to take home to be recognized by their panel. “It needs to show useful function and provide a better living experience for its users, meeting the clients’ expectations,” they share. These are elements that are visible in the architectural structure, sustainable design, and overall experience of both Aspire Corporate Plaza and Garden City. 

Mr. Wong points out that the odds of a local boutique developer like Golden Bay winning internationally was unexpected, making the wins even more satisfying. For tenants and partners of Aspire Corporate Plaza and the future residents of Garden City, the choice to invest in a Golden Bay property proves to be a solid investment backed by the distinguished OPAL jurors. “Fastened with our commitment to produce world-class innovation and creativity, Aspire Corporate Plaza and Garden City are not just assets, they are a legacy,” Mr. Wong points out. 

While Aspire Corporate Plaza launched last 2020 and Garden City is still in the works, the OPAL wins show that Golden Bay Landholdings is here to make a mark on the global stage of design and development. Standing tall beside major firms from all around the world, Golden Bay showcases the ingenuity of Philippine talent and architecture. This win is a step forward for aspiring Filipino designers everywhere. 

Mr. Wong shares that he and his team are grateful and honored for the awards but they are certain that this is just the beginning. More award-winning properties are on the drawing board and in the pipeline for Mr. Wong, his team, and his partners. The OPAL win has recharged and inspired them to create more world-class developments for the Philippines.

“Golden Bay Landholdings will continue to dream of exceptional projects that addresses social impact, environmental protection, inclusiveness, and real world purpose,” Mr. Wong shares.