Since the Seven Seas Waterpark and Resort was shuttered on March 17 in response to the government’s plea to help curb the spread of COVID-19, the facility, hailed as “Mindanao’s Showcase of Sustainable Tourism” has lain idle except for a skeleton crew cleaning and maintaining its various attractions.
However, that wasn’t going to stop UC-1 President and CEO Engr. Elpidio M. Paras from using its facilities to help in the war against the virus. UC-1 is the holding company which owns and manages the family’s various enterprises in the hospitality industry, business process outsourcing (BPO), internet service provision, and cable television.
On March 31st, Paras announced in a Facebook post he had successfully commissioned the Seven Seas Waterpark’s Chlorinsitu IIa machine to produce 815 liters daily of Sodium Hypochlorite (NaOCl) solution.
“While it was intended to keep our wave pool sanitized for the summer, it is now repurposed to supply a good quantity of chlorine-based disinfectant for use by the community,” Paras announced.
When its daily output of NaOCl is diluted with water, the machine can produce the equivalent of 7,000 Liters of surface disinfectant daily.
“We are working with the XU Chemistry department to properly mix this into a safe and effective product for use by our front liners, hospitals and community checkpoints,” Paras said.
Already, the disinfectant is being used in a prototype disinfectant misting apparatus which Paras designed for use by their Parasat HD technical service vehicles as extra protection as they go about their daily duties in response to the demands of their cable and internet business.
“Our frontline technical and CSR staff are in constant exposure to possible CoVid-19 infections, so we go to extra lengths to keep them safe in their daily rounds,” Paras noted. A short video of the apparatus can be viewed here.
In addition to these measures, UC-1 has also implemented a comprehensive package of measures as recommended by authorities to help curb the spread of the CoVid-19 virus including social distancing, staggered work schedules with a skeletal work force, shorter office hours (8am-4pm), and plastic curtains for their payment centers.
The company has also taken advantage of the Holy Week break to implement sanitation and disinfection procedures of its various offices and payment centers which have already been provided with alcohol sanitizers and disinfecting foot baths for its customers and employees, and has disallowed the entry of all people not wearing a face mask.
As a further measure to comply with the global edict for social distancing, the company suspended all scheduled deactivations for March and encouraged all its customers to take advantage of the faster processing times for their payments at any Savemore/SM store, 7Eleven stores, or through online banking (BDO, Metrobank, BPI, Landbank), and ECPay Merchant Partner including 7Eleven (Nationwide); GCASH; TrueMoney (Nationwide); ExpressPay (Nationwide); Oro Graphic Inc. Main (Graphics); RD Pawnshop (Nationwide); ALP Tickets and Bills Payment; Triple MG Business Center; Top Online Provider Deals (App) or NATCCO (Coop).
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