UP distances from OCTA Research’s ‘polling, research, consultation activities’
FILE PHOTO: The UP Oblation with a new fountain in Diliman, Quezon City, on March 1, 2019. INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON
MANILA, Philippines — The polling, research, and consultation activities conducted by the OCTA Research have no connection to the University of the Philippines (UP).
The state institution said this Friday, as an investigation on the pandemic monitor’s capabilities, methodologies, and background by the House of Representatives looms.
“There is a difference between the endeavors of individual UP researchers and the projects and programs of official UP academic and research units, with the latter bearing the University’s name, symbol, and approval,” UP said in a statement.
“Initiatives involving particular UP faculty and research staff members, such as the OCTA Research Team’s polling, research, and consultation activities, have no connection to UP and are not sponsored, endorsed, or organized by the University,” it added.
UP said that as a large community of scholars, researchers, and experts in multiple fields, members of the UP community are “free and encouraged” to conduct research.
“The University is currently taking steps to enhance protocols to protect its name, symbols, colors, and brand in public,” it noted.
“Should questions about the UP credentials of individuals and groups arise, UP authorities are ready to verify such credentials should it be necessary,” it added.
Based on House Resolution No. 2075 filed on Wednesday, the committee on good government must check on the “qualifications, research methodologies, partnerships, and composition” of OCTA Research.
In a statement also on Wednesday, OCTA Research stressed it is “one with government” and that all its efforts on the COVID-19 pandemic are part of its service to the nation.
OCTA Research is an independent and interdisciplinary policy and public opinion research organization composed of alumni and professionals from the University of the Philippines and the University of Santo Tomas. It explained that “findings and recommendations of our research do not reflect the official position of the institutions aforementioned.”
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