OCTA Research in hot water

By Herbert Vego

BETTER late than never is how I see the House of Representatives’ Resolution No. 2075, which seeks to probe the “mandate” of a supposedly independent OCTA Research.

The five legislators behind the resolution – Sharon Garin, Kristine Meehan, Stella Luz Quimbo, Bernadette Herrera and Jesus Suntay – wonder why the group seems to have taken over the role of the Department of Health (DOH) in declassifying statistics on the “surge” of Covid-19 cases.

The aforementioned solons would like to seek a formal inquiry into the credentials of OCTA as a research group based at the University of the Philippines (UP). A news report had quoted UP Professor Peter Clayton denying OCTA’s “existence” in UP’s organizational structure even if some of its organizers are indeed UP professors.

The ongoing two-week ECQ lockdown in Metro Manila sprang as a result of a briefing between OCTA researchers and officials of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases. Otherwise, warned OCTA fellow Fredegusto P. David, coronavirus infections in Metro Manila could go as high from this week’s 1,000 cases daily to 5,000 daily by the end of August.

OCTA, according to alarmed Senate President Tito Sotto, is also behind the IATF’s proposal to disallow unvaccinated persons from visiting “certain places.”

“We should not force our people to be vaccinated if they refuse,” he wrote in a tweet.

What a coincidence that Mayor Jerry Treñas has banned unvaccinated persons from visiting Iloilo City Hall on any day this week!

If the mayor thinks that vaccination guarantees against catching Covid-19, it does not. Senator Richard Gordon, to illustrate, had already been jabbed with his second dose  of AstraZeneca when rushed to the Makati Medical Center on July 29 after testing Covid-positive. He has recovered, but not after getting injected with multiple doses of the expensive Remdesivir. It retails at P8,000 per dose.

Unfortunately for OCTA, its mysterious “competition” with the DOH is not as “eyebrow-raising” as its supposedly “non-commissioned July 12-18 political survey”. As published in the August 3, 2021 issue of the Manila Bulletin, presidential daughter Sara Duterte Carpio topped the survey with 28 percent of the alleged 1,200 respondents, far ahead of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. at 13 percent; Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, 11%;  and Senators Mary Grace Poe and Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao, each with 10%.

In an earlier OCTA Research survey ( Jan. 26-Feb. 1, 2021), Sara had also topped with a lesser 22%, followed by Sen. Grace Poe with 13%, Sen. Manny Pacquiao and former Sen. Bongbong Marcos with 12% each, and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno with 11%.

There was no explanation as to how the presidential daughter and mayor of Davao City, had generated so much national popularity.

Why did Vice-President Leni Robredo not make it within the top five?

While viewing the talk show “Wag Po” on TV-5 on Tuesday night, I heard one of the hosts, Lord de Vera, ask his three co-hosts whether, as rumored, OCTA had received fifty million pesos from the government to conduct researches and surveys.

Nobody dared answer, apparently because under-the-table deals are not meant to be proven.

But OCTA Research has definitely joined the ranks of “mind conditioners” SWS and Pulse Asia, which had accurately “predicted” all the winners of the 2019 senatorial race topped by survey frontliner  Cynthia Villar.

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BIRTHDAY CELEBRATORS

OUR good friend Victor Nomat of San Jose, Antique reminded us that our friend Rep. Gerry “Boy” Espina Jr. of the lone district of Biliran is turning 52 years young on Saturday, August 7. How we wish we could pay him a visit, but the “new normal” does not permit.  Happy birthday, Cong Gerry.

Broadcaster and Tigbauan, Iloilo councilor Neri Camina, on the other hand, is turning 69 on Monday, Aug. 9.  He hosts – together with this writer and his daughter Nermie – the talk show “Tribuna sang Banwa” every Sunday on Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo, 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. His birthday wish is to be re-elected in 2022.