Go Negosyo, OCTA Research ink partnership on data-sharing, proposals to reopen economy

Entrepreneurship advocacy Go Negosyo has teamed up with independent research group OCTA on data analysis of COVID-19 figures to come up with policy recommendations to safely reopen the economy.

The two groups formalized their partnership through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Tuesday.

The MOU was signed by Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion and OCTA Research president Ranjit Rye.

Under the accord, OCTA Research will now serve as Go Negosyo’s advisory team when it comes to data analysis of COVID-19 numbers which includes new cases, reproduction number, hospital utilization, vaccination data, and other relevant items.

“Data analytics from OCTA Research will provide Go Negosyo with valuable guidance and enlightenment in making key decisions and proposals in helping MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises) in the country,” the groups said in a joint statement.

OCTA Research will also collaborate with Go Negosyo in jointly creating strategy and proposals for the reopening of the economy that is data-driven and scientific and share knowledge and lessons learned from the Philippines’ COVID-19 response, in addition to other learning and capacity building efforts.

To recall, both groups called on the government to strictly lockdown the National Capital Region (NCR) for two weeks last August.

Concepcion said the move will save the fourth quarter of 2021, which is traditionally a consumer-spending season amid the Christmas holidays.

“For several weeks, Go Negosyo and OCTA Research have partnered in providing valuable and useful COVID-19 data for the perusal and consideration of both government and private stakeholders,” the groups said.

“Our joint effort resulted in various wins for the private sector and other business industries, including the downgrading of Metro Manila to Alert Level 3,” they added.

Concepcion and several OCTA Research fellows, led by Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, recently met with the Department of Health (DOH) to discuss their proposal for a more scientific and transparent means of determining alert level classifications in Metro Manila.

“We propose to link alert levels to the percentage of total active cases in the National Capital Region that require hospitalization,” Austriaco said, who based his recommendation on his analysis of the critical threshold level of active cases in the National Capital Region.

Dr. Guido David, another OCTA Research fellow, presented a scoring system based on ADAR (average daily attack date), HCUR (healthcare utilization rate), positivity rate and reproduction numbers which can be a basis to determine risk level.

Dr. Michael Tee, for his part, proposed to include the fully vaccinated population as a metric for the alert system level.

The NCR is expected to reach 80% vaccination rate by the end of October while vaccination of kids aged 12-17 has started this month.

With the current downward trend of COVID-19 cases, OCTA Research raised the possibility that Metro Manila could be placed Alert Level 2 starting next month.

With consumer spending expected to ramp up during the Christmas season, Concepcion is eyeing for more capacity for businesses in the last quarter of the year to enable them to recoup losses from the lockdown and allow them to gain momentum for next year’s operation.—AOL, GMA News