Thursday, August 12, 2021

Should gov’t be investigated instead? House leaders calls OCTA probe a clear ‘waste’

House Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez has called the imminent congressional investigation on the OCTA Research Group’s qualification a complete “waste.”

Rodriguez, in an interview on Abante’s Balitaan at Kumustahan on Wednesday, believed that they should no longer proceed with the house probe. He also questioned their capacity to determine the right methodology to conduct the studies that the research group has been presenting since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Ang resolution…is to scrutinize first the qualifications, second, the research methodology, third, the partnerships, and fourth, the composition. I have researched on this OCTA group and I can see that they are very, very qualified, these are scientists, these are academicians,” he added.

He mentioned some of the members of the research group all of whom he deemed qualified based on his own research on them. This includes Dr. Guido David, who he said is a professor of the Institute of Mathematics, Prof. Ranjit Rye, an associate professor of the Department of Political Science of the University of the Philippines; UP Manila Vice Chancellor Dr. Michael Ty; from UST, Rev. Fr. Austriaco, a professor in molecular biology from Providence College in the United States, now a visiting professor at UST; and Dr. Bernhard Egwolf, a professor on mathematics and physics.

“So they are very much qualified in relation to methodology e sino ba naman kami in Congress?”

Rodriguez said the matter should be best left to the peers or the community of scientists, mathematicians and health practitioners since it is a very technical field.

He quipped that the government should be the one investigated since it is accepting and implementing suggestions of a private group which he stressed questions even more the authority of congress to probe the OCTA Research Group.

“The IATF is doing its job, it’s working hard, the DOH also, so if you want to investigate the procedure and the methodology and also the qualification then we have to investigate those who are using the data, that is government,” he said.