About Oculum Research and Analytics
Oculum employs rigorous methods in survey research to allow generalizability in its findings, in particular multi-stage random sampling.
Credible and Reliable
Oculum Research and Analytics seeks to diversify the pool of credible and reliable sources of data, analytics, and information in the Philippines.
Public Opinion
Oculum’s work is anchored on its quarterly public opinion polls that cover topics such as public support on various sociopolitical issues, trust in institutions, job satisfaction on top public officials, and voter preferences.
Professionals
Behind Oculum are professionals in the fields of communication and media, political science, and the social sciences.
Oversight Board
Mr. Manuel P. Mogato has been a journalist for four decades, covering politics, diplomacy, disasters, insurgencies, and the military and defense establishments. As Reuters Manila correspondent, he and two other colleagues won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2018 for their coverage of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs. He has won the Marshall McLuhan Fellowship, the Roy Rowan Award for Investigative Journalism, the Human Rights Press Award, and the Rotary Club of Manila Journalism Award. Mogato is the defense and security editor of OneNews and OnePH news channel of Cignal TV and editor at large of News5 Digital. He also writes a regular column for PressOne.PH. Mogato teaches at the journalism program of the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Arts and Letters. Mr. Mogato had taught journalism at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, where he graduated in 1983.
Msgr. Pedro Quitorio III is the director of the Media Office of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). Quitorio’s private media development initiatives include Areopagus Communications Inc., a communications and media outfit that produces various media products for church and secular communities. Within Areopagus, Quitorio led the team that produced the Faith Watch App, a new platform for religious video content. Quitorio is the editor in chief of CBCP News and the CBCP Monitor.
Mr. Felipe F. Salvosa II heads the journalism program of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Arts and Letters and is a researcher under the UST Research Center for Culture, Arts and the Humanities (RCCAH). He covered monetary and fiscal policy as well as legislation and national defense and security for BusinessWorld newspaper, where he rose to become an associate editor. As head of research for the country’s top business paper, he led the team that produced the annual ranking of the Philippines’s top 1,000 corporations. Mr. Salvosa later moved to government service as publications chief of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, the state think tank. He also became a Philippine Researcher for the Financial Times Group of London and managing editor of The Manila Times. Mr. Salvosa is a director of the Philippines Communication Society and vice president of the Journalism Studies Association of the Philippines.
Chief Political Analyst
Dr. Dennis Coronacion teaches political science at the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Arts and Letters, where he was chairman of the Department of Political Science, a university-wide service department. In 2021, he was elected president of the Philippine Political Science Association. Dr. Coronacion is a political analyst and an expert in international relations.
Chief Statistician
Dr. Joseph Mercado is a full-fledged professor of research and statistics and educational management in various universities in the Philippines and abroad. He is a former vice president for research, extension, planning, and development; director of the Institute for Data and Statistical Analysis; and dean of the College of Science of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Manila Campus. He completed his doctorate degree in educational management, master in applied statistics, and bachelor in applied statistics at PUP Manila. Dr. Mercado has served as panelist and statistician in graduate research tribunals and has published number of papers in Scopus journals. Aside from being an educator, Dr. Mercado is a senior research consultant for a private marketing research agency that conducts quantitative and qualitative research projects for various industries.
Project Team
Romero “Rommel” F. Lopez is the Associate Editor of PressOne.PH and one of the hosts of its commentary podcast, The Press Room. Lopez is a former public affairs chief of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies and is a freelance journalist covering the politics and religion beat. He is a founding director of the Philippine Association for Media and Information Literacy (PAMIL) and a member of the Board of Directors of the Philippines Communication Society (PCS). He is also a member of the Journalism Studies Association of the Philippines (JSAP). He teaches journalism and communication courses at the undergraduate programs of the De La Salle University – Dasmariñas and the University of Nueva Caceres – Bataan and at the graduate programs of the University of Santo Tomas and the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication.
April Frances “Sky” Ortigas is the webmaster of Areopagus Communications, Inc., maintaining PressOne.PH and other websites.