Asia Pacific Eye Center and AsPac Eye Laser and Surgicenter’s team of expert doctors and devoted staff successfully deliver world class eye care

words by Jen Balboa and images by Gabriel D. Dela Cruz

When it comes to assessing the milestones achieved by the Asia-Pacific Eye Center (APEC), being visionary is often the easiest virtue to attribute the successes to. And when we talk about vision, we refer not only to the vision of Dr. Antonio Elmer N. Tan, its CEO and president – we also recognize the vision of Dr. Noel S. Cariño, medical director and Dr. Tan’s first APEC partner, as well as the vision of all their partner doctors who joined APEC, a group practice now comprised of 29 doctors.

But let’s face it – to build something as ambitious as APEC, the AsPac Eye Laser and Surgicenter, and the Asia Pacific Medical and Wellness Center (APMWC) Tower which houses both APEC and AsPac in Binãn, Laguna, takes more than the usual vision platitudes. We must remember that APEC doctors are eye doctors, men and women who are precise and calculated as much as they are patient and compassionate. They would not band all together blindly for a cause had they not analyzed beforehand their capacities to deliver.

Let’s take it from the words of Dr. Cariño, who professed that from the start, he knew he wanted to join “the winning team.” That winning team eventually came up with what he calls “the Binãn formula,” which is essentially APEC’s uniquely excellent practice, plus the use of high-caliber technologies. It is a formula that works, the greatest yield of which is their patients’ improved quality of life through more than 30 years now.

Excellent experts plus top-of-the-line tools

The APMWC Tower at One Asia Business Center in Biñan stands as the active proof of APEC’s success in providing patients its unique brand of world-class eye care. The Tower celebrates its 10th anniversary in April 2026, just as APEC has been in service for 33 years, and AsPac for 17 years. Dr. Tan and Dr. Cariño, as well as the rest of their partner doctors, knew 10 years ago they needed such a thing as the APMWC Tower mainly because their patients have been growing in numbers. The APEC brand has steadily earned its reputation of being a “preferred eye care center” as more and more patients began to seek them, and as they procured even more advanced technologies to service their patients even better.

“It’s all because of the need for better eye equipment that drove us to set up the AsPac Eye Laser and Surgicenter,” Dr. Tan said to explain the progression of establishments of APEC, AsPac, and the APMWC Tower which consolidates the two earlier groups under one roof, this side of Luzon. He added, “Modesty aside, we even have more equipment than some of the bigger hospitals.” Dr. Cariño reinforced this by attesting, “Whatever machine the big hospitals would have is actually here. It’s comparable.”

One of the defining characteristics of ophthalmology is that of it being “such an instrument-dependent field,” Dr. Cariño explained. “Unlike other areas of medicine where it’s only dependent on the skills of the surgeon, in ophthalmology, it’s totally different. If you don’t have the toys, your outcomes are probably going to be not as good, because ophthalmologists need to be very precise. So we make it a point that the standards here are very high. We maximize the use of our equipment, our technicians, [and] the outcomes are on point.” Their emphasis in using world-class technologies from the United States and Europe also explains why they indeed have the latest high-grade equipment for every possible eye care specialization, such that they have the technologies for cataract, refractive laser surgery, Lasik and PRK, glaucoma, cornea, retina, and even for dry eye. They never scrimp on their tools. They even have a partnership with Zeiss of Germany, wherein an ecosystem that instantly conveys and integrates data to the operating microscope has been created. Meanwhile, as far as doctor expertise is concerned, the caliber of the APEC doctors is as top-notch as their tools, and no area of ophthalmology is uncharted by these doctors. As Dr. Tan stated, “When it comes to all subspecialties of ophthalmology, we have them all.”

“Imagine the eye – how can there be so many specializations with such a small organ?” Dr. Cariño asked, highlighting the intricacies of ophthalmology. And even in the most popular of services, for example, cataract surgery, their group still manages to do it “better than most – and that is why [they] also focus on subspecialties.” While cataract surgery may be a highly sought service, their subspecializations in cornea, retina, glaucoma, pediatric ophthalmology, refractive surgeries, oculoplasty, and comprehensive eye care, all the way to opticals, have resulted to innumerable breakthroughs in the lives of their patients.

Clear commitment equals real care

In APEC, the doctors are not the only stalwarts, because the staff are equally stellar. How APEC develops its teams shows that the care given to patients is also imparted to its people. So, better not be surprised by how even top management such as Dr. Tan and Dr. Cariño warmly interact with the personnel. The personal and professional growth of their most loyal teammates have been fostered, as some of these people have been with both companies for more than 10 years now. For these long-serving homegrown talents to rise from the ranks, they were sent to graduate schools to take up masters degrees, and upon graduation, were duly promoted as managers. Dr. Tan shared, “The company took care of everything. I am proud to say we take care of our staff.” With at least “around 100 employees combined,” APEC and AsPac have got healthy numbers to prove that theirs is truly a solid team which keeps growing because the people are being nurtured.

Ultimately, all of that care cascades to all the patients – from those within the communities of Biñan, all the way to patients from Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, and beyond the seas, as patients from other provinces outside Luzon started seeking APEC’s world-class eye care. Their patient base has been cross-generational too, as original patients have consistently sent children and grandchildren. Meanwhile, their sea-crossing good reputation is already known to balikbayans and expats who happen to be the main clientele for medical tourism. Yet amid the success, Dr. Tan and Dr. Cariño will never forget their Binãn roots and the reasons why they chose to start and build here.

“I was born and raised in Binãn. I wanted to give back to the people of Binãn,” shared Dr. Tan, recounting the earliest years before they started. “During that time, Binãn was still extremely rural, there’s really no eye center. So, I set up the first eye center in Binãn, with Binãn doctors. I had to convince the hospital [I was with] to set up the first eye center in Binan Doctors Hospital. At that time, to set up an eye center, you only needed five sets of equipment. Now, we have at least around 20. [I experienced] that it’s hard to convince the hospital to invest more on eye equipment, because of course, in any hospital for that matter, ophthalmology only contributes little to the revenue.” It became very clear to Dr. Tan that if he must pursue his doctor’s mission as an ophthalmologist, he cannot accomplish it within the confines of a regular hospital. He graciously informed the hospital well in advance, seven years ahead, that he will separate to carry out his goal. Soon enough, APEC was born.

For all the words of encouragement and admiration that he and the center receive, Dr. Lee measures his impact in far more personal terms. He speaks of the sighs of relief that ripple through the lounge when a man finally shares his story, the quiet nods of understanding between patients who had once felt isolated, and the subtle shift in a man’s posture when he walks off the rooftop with his shoulders squared. “It’s not just about restoring a man’s physiological function,” he says. “It’s about restoring a sense of manhood that many think is lost with age. When a man regains confidence in his body, it resonates through his marriage, his work, his friendships.”

In their earlier days, APEC used to send their patients to Metro Manila to undergo some of the procedures. As their patients multiplied, Dr. Tan realized that it is impossible “to build a practice in Binãn if you have to bring all these patients to Manila.” Thus, AsPac was established. All these emphasize the fact that they never really left or intended to leave their Binãn roots. Their establishment later of APMWC Tower even signaled their openness to a new market, through a strategic location. It is also a location that benefits the immediate communities of Binãn. It can even be likened to helping Binãn open up to the rest of the world.

Beyond optics

The APMWC Tower is finely equipped with facilities that ensure the comfort of all patients, including the most discerning ones. While its Bonifacio Lounge caters to all patients in general, those who seek extra privacy can avail of the Rizal Lounge, especially when they need to undergo multiple procedures with longer waiting time. Decked with handsome furniture and historical paintings that depict Jose Rizal in his ophthalmology days, resting and waiting in the Rizal Lounge becomes an inspiring reprieve.

The sophistication of APMWC’s architecture and interiors bear a touch of the design work of their fellow ophthalmologist, Dr. Glenn Carandang, yet everything still exudes hominess from the display of more artworks. According to Dr. Tan, all the major artworks in the APMWC Tower were done by doctors, as in the case of two particular paintings, one by the ophthalmologist Dr. Dennis Aguirre and another by Dr. Janet de Grano, a dermatologist married to an ophthalmologist. We can very well say that these doctors indeed have a good eye for art and design.

“When we started, Dr. Tan was already attracting the best of the best doctors – presidents of medical groups, heads of specific eye specialization societies – they were already with him in our hole-in-the-wall clinic,” Dr. Cariño recalled. “They are very proficient and respected people in society. Then, we had the initial perception that people might be judging us based on what they see [from] outside, not on our skills and expertise. So, we needed the structure to highlight the credibility that has always been there.”

Yet again, Dr. Cariño hit the bull’s eye with that point – another rationale for building the APMWC Tower was that of the need for something commanding to represent the APEC brand. He explained: “You’re just looking at the building here, but you don’t know that the presence of APEC is in Asian Hospital, in Healthways Santa Rosa, in Robinson’s Galleria. We got branches and people know the brand. They say, ‘Ah, ‘yan ‘yung sa Binãn!’ So they would walk in.” And as Dr. Tan further explained, he would rather that the people no longer say, “I was operated on by Dr. Tan.” He said, “Instead, I hope they say, ‘I was operated at APEC.’” All calculations lead to that hope manifesting.