OCTA says it can work with gov’t on data release, but prefers to handle it on its own

Political and social scientist UP Prof. Ranjit Rye. Image from the UP website https://polisci.upd.edu.ph/faculty/rye/

MANILA, Philippines — While several lawmakers urged analytics group OCTA Research to work with government agencies in picking what COVID-19 data should be released to the public, a representative from the organization stressed that they prefer to be independent.

During the House of Representatives’ committee on good government and public accountability hearing on Monday, Professor Ranjit Rye was asked if OCTA Research can work with the Department of Health (DOH) and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on releasing numbers and data related to the trend of the pandemic.

BH Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy raised the question, to which Rye said they can work — and have worked — with DOH while being still autonomous.

“When we see, let’s say, a tsunami on a beach, we say it’s coming, but there could be a way that we could announce it with DOH earlier, and we could align and strategize how we can release information,” Rye told the lawmakers.

“Of course we want to remain autonomous, we want to remain independent, we want to continue doing what we’re doing […] There can be an arrangement where we continue to be autonomous but at the same time coordinated and constantly collaborating with DOH,” he added.

Prior to Herrera-Dy, Ilocos Sur 2nd District Rep. Kristine Singson-Meehan also asked Rye whether OCTA is willing to work with DOH and the IATF to resolve the lawmakers’ concerns, once the hearings have been finished.

In response, Rye said that they are very much open to the possibility of working with DOH and IATF, stressing that they have already worked together before.  He also stressed that their recommendations were not accepted as gospel truth by the government, noting that it was only considered.

“We have no problems with DOH, we are text-mates, we ask them about how we can amplify their messages, yes we’ve been very busy that’s why we haven’t been working as much, the passion and the seeming difference that was amplified was really because all of us are scared of Delta, honestly,” Rye explained.

“We saw the impact of the Alpha surge, and Delta surge in February and March, and we saw how many people lost lives and how it affected livelihood.  OCTA’s basic position was to go early, go hard.  While our position was never truly accepted in government because we just merely recommended,” he added.

OCTA Research is being quizzed by the House panel on their capability to research COVID-19 patterns, given that it has been widely used by media and was perceived to be part of the government’s considerations in its COVID-19 response.

OCTA uses data from the Department of Health (DOH) and analyzes it to make predictions about whether COVID-19 cases would increase or decrease.  During the late part of July, OCTA advocated for a strict lockdown over Metro Manila and other areas due to the threat of the COVID-19 Delta variant.

However, OCTA’s methodology and goal were questioned as it was accused of fear-mongering and failed to accurately interpret the COVID-19 numbers.

READ: Lockdown weak or Delta too strong – OCTA Research

READ: OCTA notes NCR ‘serious surge’; hints Delta variant community transmission 

In the past hearing, OCTA Research fellow and UP Professor Guido David reasoned that they have not yet made a wrong prediction about possible COVID-19 surges, noting that all three predicted surges actually happened.

READ: Inaccurate data? OCTA Research says all 3 COVID-19 surge predictions happened 

Rye maintained that the government made the right move to put certain areas under lockdown, as the country is now reaping the results of quick action against the growing number of cases back in early August.

“DOH saw the same things we saw, that there was an impending surge with serious consequences if we did not make decisions at that time.  And we believe the government made the right decision, and we have amplified that position in media,” Rye said.

“Government made the right call when it decided to have an ECQ, and that to a great extent has affected the outcome, the good outcome has influenced the good outcomes that we are now experiencing today,” he added.

COVID-19 cases have started to decrease across the country, almost two months since the Delta variant-spurred surge.  As of Monday, DOH tallied 8,292 new infections, which meant that there are 98,894 active COVID-19 cases.

Around 16.5 percent of the 52,352 patients recently tested got positive results, according to DOH.