2021

CARE PH
ANNUAL
REPORT
BEATRICE TIANGCO
RAMONITO NUIQUE
JOJO FLORES

Every preventable cancer averted.

Every screenable cancer detected.
Every cancer patient counted.
 Table of Contents

CANCER IN THE PHILIPPINES: Burden of Disease 1

GLOBOCAN 2020 1

CARE PH HOSPITAL-BASED CANCER REGISTRY 4

2022 Consolidated Cancer Census 4

2022 CARE PH Member Hospitals 6

CARE PH RESEARCH 14

2022 Completed Studies 14

2023 Ongoing Studies 18

2023 Research Plans 19

REGISTRY & RESEARCH WORKSHOP 20

PARTNERING WITH THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION IN

CREATING THE PCC-SRDC DEVELOPMENT PLAN 24

RECOGNITIONS AND AWARDS 25

OPPORTUNITIES 26

CARE PH ORGANIZATIONAL CHART 27

FINANCIAL SUMMARY (per 2022 AFS) 28

REFERENCES 28
 List of Figures

Figure 1. GLOBOCAN 2020 estimates of incidence and mortality in the Philippines 3

Figure 2. Frequency of primary cancer sites in CARE PH cancer census 2022 4

Figure 3. Frequency of primary cancer sites in PGH cancer census 2022 7

Figure 4. Frequency of primary cancer sites in TMC-Pasig cancer census 2022 7

Figure 5. Frequency of primary cancer sites in CGH cancer census 2022 8

Figure 6. Frequency of primary cancer sites in DDVMH cancer census 2022 8

Figure 7. Frequency of primary cancer sites in MMC cancer census 2022 9

Figure 8. Frequency of primary cancer sites in NKTI cancer census 2022 9

Figure 9. Frequency of primary cancer sites in CSMC cancer census 2022 10

Figure 10. Frequency of primary cancer sites in BiMC cancer census 2022 10

Figure 11. Frequency of primary cancer sites in BatMC cancer census 2022 11

Figure 12. Frequency of cancer primary cancer sites in RMC cancer census 2022 11

Figure 13. Top 10 primary sites by age group in 2022 12

Figure 14. Percentage of biomarkers present in CALMER patients 17

 List of Tables

Table 1. CARE PH monthly summary per institution in 2022 5

Table 2. 2022 CARE PH Hospital Name, Level, Type, and Bed Capacity 6

Table 3. Age distribution of top 10 CARE PH primary sites 12

Table 4. Patients per primary site in more than 1 hospital cancer registry 13

Table 5. Summary statistics of variables in the cohort according to the

presence of HCC 15

Table 6. Age and sex of patients diagnosed in 2020 according to

type of malignancy 16

Table 7. Comparison among status 18

List of Abbreviations

PGH Philippine General Hospital

TMC The Medical City
CGH Chinese General Hospital
DDVMH Dagupan Doctors Villaflor Memorial Hospital
MMC Makati Medical Center
NKTI National Kidney and Transplant Institute
CSMC Cardinal Santos Medical Center
BiMC Bicol Medical Center
BatMC Batangas Medical Center
RMC Rizal Medical Center
BOH Beginning on Hand
EOH Ending on Hand
 CANCER IN THE PHILIPPINES:
Burden of Disease

GLOBOCAN 2020

In December 2020, CANCER TODAY website was updated with GLOBOCAN 2020
database version 2.0. In it we find data sourced from the Cebu Cancer Registry, Manila
Cancer Registry and Rizal Cancer Registry weighted/sample average of the most
recent local rates, applied to the 2020 population of 109,581,085 Filipinos [1]. In that
same update, the estimated number of new cases of cancer for 2020 was 153,751, or
a nine percent increase from 2018 new cases of 141,021; while the number of cancer
deaths for the same period showed a seven percent increase to 92,6060 from 86,337
in 2018.

The top ten incident cancers in the Philippines, based on the 2020 GLOBOCAN data
presented in Figure 1 are: Breast Cancer, Lung Cancer, Colon Cancer, Liver Cancer,
Prostate Cancer, Cervical Cancer, Thyroid Cancer, Rectal Cancer, Leukemia, and
Ovarian Cancer.

The top ten most common cause of cancer death in the Philippines, based on the
2020 GLOBOCAN data presented in Figure 1 are: Lung Cancer, Liver Cancer, Breast
Cancer, Colon Cancer, Leukemia, Cervical Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, Pancreatic
Cancer, Prostate Cancer, and Rectal Cancer.

1
2
Figure 1. GLOBOCAN 2020 estimates of incidence and mortality in the Philippines.

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 CARE PH HOSPITAL-BASED
CANCER REGISTRY
2022 Consolidated Cancer Census

Twenty-seven (27) member hospitals have completed sharing their data as of 20

March 2023, for a total of 16,708 new registrants in 2022. These numbers represent
an 8% increase in the number of contributing hospitals (from 25 in 2021 to 27 in 2022),
and a 30% increase in the number of new registrants (from N=12,839 registrants in
2021 to N=16,708 registrants in 2022).

Breakdown of primary cancer sites are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Frequency of primary cancer sites in CARE PH cancer census 2022.

The top ten most frequently diagnosed cancers in the CARE PH Registry System are:
Breast Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Cervical Cancer, Head and Neck Cancer, Uterine
Cancer, Prostate and other Male Urogenital Cancers, Blood Dyscrasia, Thyroid
Cancer, Lung Cancer, Kidney Cancer.

4
No. Institution Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total

1 Baguio Medical Center 1 1 2 0 0 3 4 3 5 2 1 1 23

2 Batangas Medical Center 27 56 67 92 81 79 78 92 109 81 99 61 922

3 Bicol Medical Center 67 91 108 66 61 66 56 65 54 37 20 6 697

Bicol Regional Training and

4 0 1 2 1 0 1 0 2 1 1 2 4 15
Teaching Hospital

5 Bulacan Sacred Heart 19 9 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 31

Cardinal Santos Medical

6 44 55 77 86 64 70 68 59 61 53 50 58 745
Center

7 Chinese General Hospital 83 132 122 156 192 118 166 147 87 156 144 116 1,619

Dagupan Doctors Villaflor

8 128 126 125 112 136 151 158 140 121 137 148 105 1,587
Memorial Hospital

9 Davao Doctors Hospital 17 15 23 7 0 3 2 0 0 0 0 3 70

10 East Avenue Medical Center 8 16 31 17 7 59 42 19 52 38 9 46 344

General Santos Doctors

11 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 11 5 4 1 4 29
Hospital

12 Global Cancer Care Institute 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 8 14

13 Iloilo Doctors Hospital 6 2 5 13 11 10 11 23 40 24 28 25 198

14 Makati Medical Center 53 85 119 107 120 128 117 121 85 101 102 80 1,218

15 Medical Center Manila 18 21 19 21 28 35 27 28 19 18 22 17 273

National Kidney & Transplant

16 2 214 103 359 295 137 123 138 158 152 123 37 1,841
Institute

Northern Mindanao Medical

17 20 20 28 22 15 25 18 46 28 19 89 104 434
Center

18 Palawan MMG-PPC 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2

19 Philippine General Hospital 194 214 291 397 424 414 450 405 371 418 402 403 4,383

20 Rizal Medical Center 34 20 43 41 43 42 44 50 44 46 34 31 472

St. Paul Hospital of

21 4 5 13 6 8 2 0 3 6 2 0 0 49
Tuguegarao

22 The Medical City 73 136 171 133 169 138 129 110 142 122 125 103 1,551

23 The Medical City Clark 4 6 8 12 0 1 2 9 0 9 11 2 64

24 The Medical City Pangasinan 1 6 1 0 0 0 7 0 3 9 0 0 27

25 The Medical City South Luzon 12 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 25

26 TMC Iloilo 8 3 5 3 5 9 8 5 9 3 4 1 63

Zamboanga Del Sur Medical

27 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12
Center

835 1,247 1,363 1,651 1,660 1,492 1,515 1,477 1,400 1,432 1,421 1,215 16,708

Table 1. CARE PH monthly summary per institution in 2022.

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2022 CARE PH Member Hospitals

CARE PH has a total of 44 hospital members, but only 27 (61%) were able to share
and 17 (39%) were unable to share any 2022 data. The reasons given for non-sharing
were: 1) Continued focus on recovery from the pandemic, or change in hospital
management during the pandemic, 2) Preference to give hospital cancer data directly
to DOH, 3) Lack of human resource to encode data, 4) Lack of computer server or
hospital local area network.

Hospital Name Level Type Bed Capacity

NCR (n=9)
1. Cardinal Santos Medical Center Tertiary Private 245
2. Chinese General Hospital Tertiary Private 600
3. Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium Tertiary Government 2,000
4. East Avenue Medical Center Tertiary Government 600
5. Makati Medical Center Tertiary Private 600
6. Medical Center Manila Tertiary Private 200
7. National Kidney and Transplant Institute Tertiary Specialty Government 500
8. Philippine General Hospital Tertiary Government 1,500
9 The Medical City – Pasig Tertiary Private 800
Luzon (n=19)
1. Baguio Medical Center 1 Government 500
2. Batangas Medical Center Tertiary Government 500
3. Bicol Medical Center Tertiary Government 500
4. Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital Tertiary Government 600
5. Calamba Medical Center Tertiary Private 122
6. Dagupan Doctors Villaflor Memorial Hospital Tertiary Private 125
7. De La Salle University Medical Center Tertiary Private 300
8. Divine Grace Medical Center Tertiary Private 75
9. Global Care Cancer Institute n/a Standalone n/a
10. Mary Mediatirx Medical Center Tertiary Private 174
11. Naga Imaging Center Cooperative Doctors Hospital Tertiary Private 99
12. Palawan MMG Cooperative Hospital Tertiary Private 80
13. Rizal Medical Center Tertiary Government 500
14. Sacred Heart Hospital of Malolos 2 Private 99
15. St. Paul Hospital – Tuguegarao Tertiary Private 250
16. The Medical City – Clark Tertiary Private 100
17. The Medical City – Pangasinan Tertiary Private 70
18. The Medical City – South Luzon Tertiary Private 150
19. Universidad de Sta. Isabel Health Services Department Tertiary Private 150
Visayas (n=8)
1. AMOSUP-Seamen’s Hospital – Iloilo 2 Private 43
2. Antique Medical Center 2 Private 152
3. Iloilo Doctors’ Hospital Tertiary Private 300
4. Metro Iloilo Hospital and Medical Center 2 Private 110
5. St. Paul’s Hospital of Iloilo Tertiary Private 220
6. The Medical City – Iloilo Tertiary Private 108
7. Western Visayas Medical Center Tertiary Government 400
8. Vicente Sotto Medical Center Tertiary Government 1,200
Mindanao (n=8)
1. Ciudad Medical de Zamboanga Tertiary Private 160
2. Cotabato Regional Medical Center Tertiary Government 600
3. Davao Doctors Hospital Tertiary Private 250
4. General Santos Doctors Hospital Tertiary Private 202
5. Metro Davao Medical Research Center Tertiary Private 129
6. Northern Mindanao Medical Center Tertiary Government 400
7. Zamboanga City Medical Center Tertiary Government 250
8. Zamboanga Del Sur Medical Center 2 Government 250
TOTAL (N=44)
*Orange rows = New in 2022
# Red or white font=No data shared in 2022

Table 2. 2022 CARE PH Hospital Name, Level, Type, and Bed Capacity.

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The following hospitals have the highest contribution to the total number of new
registrants for CARE PH 2022:

Figure 3. Frequency of primary cancer sites in PGH cancer census 2022.

Figure 4. Frequency of primary cancer sites in NKTI cancer census 2022.

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 Figure 5. Frequency of primary cancer sites in CGH cancer census 2022.

Figure 6. Frequency of primary cancer sites in DDVMH cancer census 2022.

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Figure 7. Frequency of primary cancer sites in TMC-Pasig cancer census 2022.

Figure 8. Frequency of primary cancer sites in MMC cancer census 2022.

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Figure 9. Frequency of primary cancer sites in BatMC cancer census 2022.

Figure 10. Frequency of primary cancer sites in CSMC cancer census 2022.

10
Figure 11. Frequency of primary cancer sites in BiMC cancer census 2022.

Figure 12. Frequency of primary cancer sites in RMC cancer census 2022.

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 Figure 13. Top 10 primary sites by age group in 2022.

Primary Site 0-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 Over 80 Total
Breast Cancer 28 55 417 1,299 1,528 1,037 496 133 4,993
Colorectal Cancer 19 39 87 197 422 569 357 94 1,784
Cervical Cancer 8 32 221 330 284 184 48 14 1,121
Head and Neck Cancer 21 44 100 174 238 259 120 43 999
Uterine Cancer 2 11 99 157 310 280 94 10 963
Prostate and other Male Genital Cancer 3 17 10 20 99 338 313 79 879
Blood Dyscrasia 110 94 99 95 140 156 102 24 820
Thyroid Cancer 12 87 129 139 190 181 58 19 815
Lung Cancer 1 8 13 47 116 189 166 48 588
Kidney Cancer 13 7 11 60 116 153 63 12 435
TOP TEN OVERALL 217 394 1,186 2,518 3,443 3,346 1,817 476 13,397
TOTAL OVERALL 355 591 1,447 2,957 4,145 4,226 2,346 641 16,708
% Top Ten of Overall 61% 67% 82% 85% 83% 79% 77% 74% 80%

Table 3. Age distribution of top 10 CARE PH primary sites.

Table 3 above shows the age distribution of the top ten CARE PH cancer sites. Red
highlighted cells show the highest number of new registrants per primary site. Yellow
highlighted cells show the next highest number of new registrants per primary site.
Note that the table lists the age at which the cancer patients are entered into the CARE
PH Cancer Registry system. Since the registry enlists only those newly diagnosed or
treated in the CARE PH site, the underlying assumption is that the patient is diagnosed
in a CARE PH hospital and/or treated in a CARE PH hospital within one year of each
other.

12
As was observed in 2021, 80% of all the cancers seen in CARE PH hospitals in 2022
is attributed to the top ten cancers seen in Table 3. Breast and uterine cancers, found
in women, and thyroid cancer found in both men and women, have peak incidence
between ages 50-59 years, another female malignancy, cervical cancer peaks at 40-
49 years, while all other cancers found in men or men and women peak between 50
to 69 years old.

Of note, more than half of the top ten cancers in the age group 0-19 are blood
dyscrasias (childhood leukemias)

A patient with the same initials, birthday, and primary site is considered to be the same
person by the central CARE PH database. A close look at the 2022 CARE PH data
reveals that a total of 154 patients (<1% of total number of CARE PH HBCR registry
patients) were registered in 2 (152/154) or 3 (2/154) CARE PH hospitals (Table 4).

Primary Site Seen in 2 Seen in 3

Hospitals Hospitals
Anal Cancer 1 -
Blood Dyscrasia 4 -
Breast Cancer 56 1
Central Nervous System Cancer 1 -
Cervical Cancer 21 -
Colorectal Cancer 23 1
Gastric Cancer 4 -
Head and Neck Cancer 10 -
Hepatobiliary Cancer 3 -
Kidney Cancer 1 -
Lung Cancer 4 -
Neuroendocrine Tumors 1 -
Ovarian Cancer 1 -
Prostate and other Male Genital Cancer 8 -
Soft Tissue Cancer 4 -
Urinary Bladder Cancer 1 -
Uterine Cancer 9 -
TOTAL 152 2

Table 4. Patients per primary site in more than 1 hospital cancer registry.

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 CARE PH RESEARCH
Year 2022 was, by far, the busiest year for the research arm of CARE PH. Three
studies were completed, 3 new studies started, 3 workshops conducted, and
opportunities for CARE PH staff were created. CANDLE P1, the biggest project of
CARE PH, proposed completion in 4 years from its originally approved 5 years as the
study team was confident that the study would be completed at the end of the study
year. BLOOM PH was completed, and a summary of its results can be seen below.
CALMER Study fulfilled its commitment to finish its recruitment by the last quarter of
the year and have started analyzing the data and preparing the manuscript for possible
publication. Meanwhile, 3 new studies were initiated in 2022. CANDLE P3 is a
glycoproteomic study on liver cancer from samples of participants from CANDLE P1.
CHERISH2 is a validation study of the previously completed CHERISH1 study on
COVID-19 Pneumonia. PUMA Study is a research-based registry for urologic
malignancies.

Formulation of a Registry and Research Workshop was also initiated on the 3rd quarter
of 2022. The workshop was CARE PH’s answer to the call of specialty societies and
institutions on the need to create their own registry. Modules were formed specifically
for starting a registry, a research-based registry, and a discussion that benchmarks
on artificial intelligence. With the anticipation of more specialty societies and
institutions reaching out to CARE PH, some staff were sent to an online short course
for Healthcare Leadership to further their training and experience as the organization
continues to expand and help not just cancer patients, but all Filipinos, in attaining
better healthcare.

2022 Completed Studies

CANDLE Project 1

Project 1 of the CANDLE Program that dealt with participant recruitment was
concluded last January 2023. It was able to enroll a total of 785 participants from its
different cohorts, 755 of which the team were able do baseline blood extraction. The
sites involved in the study were Philippine General Hospital as UP-Manila served as
the main implementing agency, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, The Medical
City Pasig, Sacred Heart Hospital Malolos, and Palawan Medical Mission Group –
Multipurpose Cooperative. Below are the partial results and discussion.

For the following components, all biospecimens collected from 755 participants have
been sent and are currently stored at the Philippine Genome Center, pending results
at 40% complete:
• Genotyping of recruited exposed-unexposed cohorts by customized chipsets
• Genome-wide association studies to evaluate phenotypic and genotypic data
• Viral load profiling and PCR-based genotyping of HBV subtypes
•

14
There were 358 cohorts included in this partial analysis, of which, 49.44% are males
and 50.56% are females. Among patients without HCC, 51.78% of them were females.
Meanwhile, there were more males (70.0%) among those who were diagnosed with
HCC. Patients who participated were 19 to 73 years old. The average patients’ age
was 38.94 years old (±11.52). Those who were diagnosed with hepatocellular
carcinoma were significantly older than those who were not. The average age among
the 20 HCC-diagnosed cohorts was 55.40 (±11.12) years old. Moreover, there was a
significant difference in the proportion of patients with cirrhosis between those with
and without HCC. As expected over 50% of HCC patients had liver cirrhosis as
compared to the patients without HCC.

The proportion of patients with Hepatitis B and patients who were overweight was not
significantly different between HCC and non-HCC groups. Likewise, the proportion of
patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and patients with dyslipidemia
were also not significantly different between the two groups. On the other hand, a
significant difference was observed in the proportion of patients with high total bilirubin
and patients with diabetes between the HCC and non-HCC group. The proportions
were higher among those with HCC than those without HCC.

In terms of the obtained measurements of patients’ serum biomarkers, patients

diagnosed with HCC had significantly higher mean levels of %AFP-L3, AFP, and DCP
than those without HCC as shown in Table 5.

Classification
Variable p-value
with HCC without HCC
Gender 1.0000
Male 14 (70%) 56 (70%)
Female 6 (30%) 24 (30%)
Age (yrs) 55.4 (± 11.123) 50.58 (± 9.485)
Hepatitis B 12 (60%) 57 (71.25%) 0.3306
Cirrhosis 12 (60%) 19 (23.75%) 0.0017*
Overweight 15 (75%) 61 (76.25%) 0.9068
NAFLD 5 (25%) 8 (10%) 0.0744
AFP (ng/mL) 658.14 (± 1369.782) 67.37 (± 459.799) < 0.0001*
AFP-L3 (%) 30.13 (± 27.224) 1.35 (± 9.221) < 0.0001*
DCP (ng/mL) 274.92 (± 602.896) 3.37 (± 18.475) < 0.0001*
* Significant at α=0.05

Table 5. Summary statistics of variables in the cohort according to the presence of HCC.

15
BLOOM PH

A total of 409 patients newly diagnosed with hematologic malignancies (HM) in 2020
were included in this study. Leukemia was the most commonly diagnosed HM with a
total of 207 patients, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) came in second with a total of
88 patients, coming in third was Multiple Myeloma (Plasma Cell Disorder) with 60
patients, and fourth was Hodgkin Lymphoma with 14 patients. These same 4 HMs are
in the world’s most common cancer list seen in the Global Cancer Observatory 2020
data1 except worldwide ranking puts NHL as the most commonly diagnosed blood
cancer, followed by leukemia, then Multiple Myeloma, then Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Out of the 409 patients 201 (49.0%) were female, and 208 (51.0%) were male. The
overall median age at diagnosis is 54 years (18, 95). Table 6 shows the proportion of
patients identified according to type of malignancy stratified according to sex and age.

Table 6. Age and sex of patients diagnosed in 2020 according to type of malignancy.

16
CALMER Study

There were 100 patients included in the study, of which 24 expired, 57 were lost to
follow-up, and 19 survived. The patients’ age ranged from 37 to 95 years old, with a
mean of 63.9798 ± 11.78. There were also more females (n=55) than male (n=45)
patients.

Of the 100 patients of this study, 95 had available information on some or all
biomarkers for lung cancer (Note: The 5 patients with no available information on any
biomarkers were either not tested or have insufficient sample). About 71% of these 95
patients (n=67) had at least 1 biomarker that tested positive in their cancer tissue,
while 29% (n=28) had no biomarker that tested positive in their cancer tissue. Among
the patients with present biomarker, 49% (n=33) had only 1 biomarker present, 40%
(n=27) had 2 biomarkers present, and 10% (n=7) had three biomarkers present in their
cancer tissue. Specifically, about 44% (n=38/86) have EGFR mutations, 37% have
PDL-1 (n=30/81), about 6% have ALK (n=5/82), 43% have ROS (n=35/82).

Figure 14. Percentage of biomarkers present in CALMER patients.

17
 Table 7. Comparison among status.

Among those with known status, there was no significant difference in the average
age of those who died and those who survived. Meanwhile, there were significant
differences in the proportion of male and female, those who tested negative and
positive in EGFR Mutation, PDL-1, ALK, and ROS, and type of EGFR mutation,
between those who died and survived. Specifically, proportions were higher among
those who survived.

2023 Ongoing Studies

CANDLE Project 3

This study is under the CANDLE Program that deals with the glycoproteomic profile
of the participants from those recruited in Project 1. It has been approved by UPMREB
for implementation and had a tentative 6-month run. Due to unavoidable
circumstances, the study was unable to push through with the implementation and is
currently looking for possible funding agencies and collaborators for it to be
implemented. For further details on this project, you may refer to page 19 of the 2021
CARE PH Annual Report.

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CHERISH2 Study

An artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can screen for COVID pneumonia by interpreting
chest x-ray (CXR) image findings has been created in a Retrospective Study on the
Accuracy of AI-Powered Reading of Chest X-Rays in the Diagnosis of COVID-19
Pneumonia in a Tertiary Hospital (CHERISH Study). This study (CHERISH2) will
validate the CHERISH AI tool in the clinical setting in a prospective manner and has
3 tracks, namely: CXR Data, Clinical Data, and Application Development.

PUMA Study

Philippine Urologic MAlignancies (PUMA) is a research-based registry study that

deals with urologic malignancies. Currently, all 4 sites involved in the study have been
given approval by their local ethics board to conduct on each site, namely: Philippine
General Hospital, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, East Avenue Medical
Center, and Batangas Memorial Medical Center. With the recent training of PUMA
researchers through the CARE PH Registry and Research Workshop, it is expected
that all sites will be able to enter data into the eCRF by 2023. To learn more about this
study, please visit page 21 of the 2021 CARE PH Annual Report.

2023 Research Plans

CANDLE P4

One of the plans of CARE PH is to validate scoring systems analyzed in CANDLE P1

now that it has finally concluded. This planned Project 4 of the CANDLE Program will
be a model validation built to predict people at risk for liver cancer. It also aims to
continue the liver cancer registry that was initially started by Project 1. Participants
who will enroll in the study will be given free workup on PIVKAII, liver ultrasound, AFP,
and possible inclusion of tissue specimen. Creation of protocol capsule is already in
process and will be submitted to DOST-PCHRD for possible 2025 funding.

CANDLE P5

While CANDLE P4 is centered on HCC, CANDLE P5 will be a model validation built

to predict people at risk for cirrhosis of the liver. The same participants will be recruited
as CANDLE P4, but the workups for P5 will include bilirubin, platelet count, albumin,
and ALT. The team is working on the protocol capsule and will also be submitted to
DOST-PCHRD for possible 2025 funding, same as CANDLE P4.

19
 REGISTRY & RESEARCH
WORKSHOP

Registry and research have long been existing on their

own in the healthcare ecosystem. Recent changes in
healthcare witnessed how these two, when combined,
can create more relevance and meaning, not only to
data, but to patient’s holistic management as well.
Methods in data collection and analysis, healthcare
digital transformation, even the application of artificial
intelligence have enabled us to answer more relevant
research questions easier and significantly faster than
before. These changes now allow healthcare data to
become more accessible across the globe while
keeping and maintaining patient’s rights and privacy.

The creation of the CARE PH Registry and Research

Workshop aims to help healthcare researchers create,
expand, and sustain research-based registries that
can just be the answer to relevant health-related
questions of our time. To date, CARE PH had
organized 3 workshops for specialty societies and
institutions, namely: Philippine College of Chest
Physicians (PCCP), Philippine Society of Urologic
Oncologists (PSUO), and Augusto P. Sarmiento
Cancer Institute (APSCI) and Wellness and Aesthetics
Institute (WAI) of The Medical City Pasig.

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PCCP Workshop

The Philippine College of Chest Physicians has long been wanting to put up their own
registry. This specialty society has 11 councils and wishes to have a disease-specific
registry per council.

The original plan was to only do a

registry workshop, but CARE PH
suggested to have a registry and
research workshop to facilitate
research-based registries that could
help the society achieve their goal.
The workshop was a 3-half day held
through teleconference via Zoom
platform with topics on history of
CARE PH, data lifecycle, human
resources, building databases, data
processing and methodologies,
ethical considerations, electronic
case report form creation, and even
included exploratory and basic
statistical analysis and artificial
intelligence in health research. It was
attended by 30 members of the
society, representing all 11 councils.
The main goal of the workshop was
to let each council come up with a
template or capsule that they could
use to start their own registry.

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PSUO Workshop

PUMA Study is a research-based registry initiated by the Philippine Society of Urologic

Oncologists. This is a multi-site study across 4 different training hospitals in urologic
oncology. This is PSUO’s first research-based registry, and they need assistance in
training their researchers on how to create and enter data into an electronic case
report form.

CARE PH initiated the registry and research

workshop that would focus on the case report
form of the PUMA Study. The workshop was 2
half days, one face-to-face held at NKTI, and the
other a teleconference via Zoom platform. Topics
included the basic workshop topics on history of
CARE PH, data lifecycle, human resources,
building databases, data processing and
methodologies, ethical considerations, and then a
focused discussion on the creation and entering
of data into the electronic case report form that
was prepared by the CARE PH Research Team.
The output was to equip the PUMA researchers
the skill to create their own electronic case report
form and to enter data properly into the PUMA
eCRF.

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APSCI/WAI Workshop

The Medical City Ortigas Augusto P Sarmiento Cancer Institute (APSCI) and Wellness and
Aesthetic Institute (WAI) began the year with a joint Registry and Research Workshop
conducted by CARE PH. The workshop brought together consultants, fellows, nurses, data
analysts, Information Technology specialists, tumor registrars, and other allied health
professionals who would be the key people in creating data-based programs for each institute.
The overall feedback from the attendees was positive and CARE PH will continue to offer our
Registry and Research Workshops to other hospitals interested in establishing data-based
programs for their hospitals.

23
 PARTNERING WITH THE WORLD HEALTH
ORGANIZATION IN CREATING THE PCC-SRDC
DEVELOPMENT PLAN

A key achievement of CARE PH was when, in June 2022, we were tasked to do

contractual service for the development of the roadmap of the Philippine Cancer
Center’s Scientific Research Data Center (PCC-SRDC). This was a collaborative
project of the DOH and WHO Philippine Office. The goal of the PCC-SRDC is to act
as the entity for centralized collection, management, and analysis of all cancer and
cancer-relevant data, and to be made accessible to everyone in the cancer data
lifecycle or cancer spectrum: from patients and survivors, to clinicians, to researchers,
to IT health specialists (including data scientists), to publishers, to public health
educators and healthcare workers.

The purposes for creating the development plan of the PCC-SRDC were clear: outline
a framework for its leadership & governance; its data & network architecture, including
the equipment and specs required; its management plan in all the elements (i.e.,
timeline, sustainability, quality assurance, risk management, communications
management, safety, etc.).

As far as the bigger picture is concerned, and with respect to enabling laws for this
activity, Rule III (Quality Healthcare Systems) Section 10 and Section 10a,
respectively, the IRR of NICCA states that PCC “shall be established as the center of
excellence in cancer care, research and development and capacity development”, and
that PCC is “to ensure strategic alignment with national control plans and programs.”

This was our first time working with WHO and PCC and we are happy to report that
we were able to deliver on time without delays all deliverables, and we were gratified
when current PCC Interim Executive Director, Dr. Alfonso Nuñez III, included in his
presentation during the February 2023 National Cancer Summit organized by the PCS
Cancer Commission the PCC-SRDC Development Plan.

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 RECOGNITIONS AND AWARDS
BCYF Innovation Award Finalist

Last December 2022, PCP Foundation Executive Director Dr Sandra Tankeh-Torres

called up CARE PH to ask if we would accept the nomination of PCP Foundation to
the Benita and Catalino Yap Foundation (BCYF) Innovation Award for 2023. CARE
PH gladly accepted and submitted all requirements for nomination.

CARE PH was awarded a plaque of recognition as one of four finalists for the award.
The judges were quite impressed with the Mission and Vision of CARE PH and its
web-based application. We were advised to put on our entrepreneurial hat and think
of ways to make our product more sustainable. We are open to suggestions on how
to do this while remaining true to our commitment to give the app for free to all member
hospitals. We are automatically considered as finalists for the 2024 BCYF Innovation
Awards, and maybe with your ideas, we can win the award next year.

In the meantime, let us continue to find ways to serve our patients with a better and
more useful hospital cancer registry system.

Outstanding Researcher

During their 36th Annual Convention last November

11, 2022, the Philippine Society of Medical
Oncology (PSMO) awarded members of the society
that excel in different fields, including research.
CARE PH Co-Founder and CEO Dr. Beatrice
Tiangco was chosen as the Most Outstanding
Researcher for her invaluable contribution to cancer
research pioneering in cancer genomics, glyco-
proteomics, and artificial intelligence.

Global Women Who Rule 2023

The Global Women Who Rule (GWWR) 2023

invited 22 Filipina women leaders from different
industries to talk about education, mental health,
human rights (violence against women), and health.
CARE PH President and Chairman Dr. Necy Juat
was among those selected to talk about health and
inspire others to become leaders. GWWR “aims to
empower communities and promote a responsible
way of using social media to do #DigitalForGood”.

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 OPPORTUNITIES

CARE PH is an organization composed of volunteer staff, and one way to pay them
forward is by sending them to trainings and courses that would help them in their
professional development.

The National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine offers a
Healthcare Leadership Course that aims to equip healthcare leaders with the required
knowledge to lead healthcare teams effectively, identify leadership traits, enhance
team building skills, and guide them to navigate organizational barriers successfully.
Ramonito B. Nuique, CARE PH Research Administrator, and Shanaia Esthelle Joy P.
Daguit, CARE PH Research Data Specialist, were both sent by the organization to the
healthcare leadership course with the hopes that they would be able to apply what
they learned for the betterment of CARE PH. The programme was an 8-week course
that ran from December 12, 2022, to February 27, 2023. Both staff finished with an
exemplary rating of 100% at the end of the course and was given a certificate of
completion. CARE PH aims to continue providing opportunities to all volunteer staff in
the future.

Shanaia is a licensed medical doctor who

graduated Cum Laude from the UP College
of Medicine INTARMED Program. She is
currently the CARE PH Data Specialist and
works as a Science Research Specialist and
Site Investigator in various projects under
the organization.

Ram is a cancer genetic counselor and a

registered nurse. At present, he is the Vice
President of the Philippine Society of
Genetic Counselors. He is the CARE PH
Research Administrator and works as a
Project Manager in all of CARE PH’s
research studies. He also heads the registry
and research workshop of the organization.

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CARE PH ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

Figure 17. CARE PH Organizational Chart.

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 FINANCIAL SUMMARY
(per 2022 AFS)

REFERENCES
1. Global Cancer Observatory (2021, March). Philippine Population Fact Sheets.
https://gco.iarc.fr/today/data/factsheets/populations/608-philippines
fact-sheets.pdf.
2. 2021 CARE PH Annual Report.

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