A number of bills have been filed over the years to consolidate our use of outer space and galvanize indigenous space-related efforts.
In 2012, there was HB6725
HB06725AN ACT CREATING AND ESTABLISHING THE PHILIPPINE SPACE AGENCY (PSA) AND DEFINE THE PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF ITS ACTIVITIES
Principal Author/s: PALMONES, ANGELO B.
Main Referral: GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION
Status: Pending with the Committee on GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION since 2012-12-05
About this bill:
Bill creating Philippine space agency filed24-December-2012 10:25:00 AM
http://www.congress.gov.ph/press/details.php?pressid=6679&key=space%20agencyAgham Party-list Rep. Angelo Palmones has proposed the creation of the Philippine Space Commission to promote the peaceful use and exploitation of space and advance the knowledge of space through research.
"A national aeronautical and space science program is not a monopoly of developed countries. It stands more as a trademark of a government, whether rich or poor, that has big dreams for its people," said Palmones, author of
House Bill 6725.
"Space science combines intense scientific discovery with entrepreneurship, inspiration and excitement. It has served as driver for the development of technologies that have changed the world," Palmones said.
Palmones said space science will result to widespread economic benefits, from the most sensitive detectors of light and radio waves to the fastest supercomputers and the internet.
"The excitement that the field brings has inspired the youth to choose careers in science and technology (S&T) contributing to the knowledge economy of nations," the lawmaker said, adding that "space science has an enormous potential to be a tool for furthering economic growth in developing nations, like the Philippines."
Palmones recalled that years after 1945, when the Chinese civil war devastated that country and had led to secession of a Nationalist government to Taiwan in 1949, even while recovering from an underdeveloped market economy China drafted its "Twelve-Year-Plan for Chinese Aerospace."
The lawmaker noted that the first Chinese-crewed flight program began several decades later culminating in the successful 2003 flight aboard Shenzhou 5. This achievement, he said, has made China the third country to independently send humans into outer space.
"India, too, is poised to become the second country after the United States to send humans to the Moon by 2020. Even the rest of our Asian neighbors, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, have advanced and centralized space agencies of their own," he said.
Likewise, Palmones said Bangladesh has a Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization (SPARRSO), established in 1980, that works closely with JAXA, NASA and the ESA. Sri Lanka has its own aeronautics and space agency whose immediate goal is to construct and launch two satellites by 2015 after signing an exclusive partnership agreement with China's state-owned China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) for the design, manufacturing and launching of the satellites.
"It is the vision by our very own Filipino astronomers, here and abroad, to have a self-reliant and coherent space program that will play a pivotal role in national economic development. The gateway of creating the historic Philippine Space Agency is embodied in this bill," Palmones said.
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During the 17th Congress, the following bills came about
HB03637 AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE PHILIPPINE SPACE DEVELOPMENT AND UTILIZATION POLICY AND CREATING THE PHILIPPINE SPACE AGENCY (PSA) AND DEFINE THE PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF ITS ACTIVITIES
Principal Author/s: AUMENTADO, ERICO ARISTOTLE C.; JALOSJOS, SETH FREDERICK P.;
Main Referral: GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION
Status: Pending with the Committee on GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION since 2016-09-21
HB04275 AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE PHILIPPINE SPACE DEVELOPMENT AND UTILIZATION POLICY AND CREATING THE PHILIPPINE SPACE AGENCY (PSA) AND DEFINE THE PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF ITS ACTIVITIES
Principal Author/s: NIETO, JOHN MARVIN "YUL SERVO" C.; MACEDA, EDWARD VERA PEREZ;
Main Referral: GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION
Status: Pending with the Committee on GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION since 2016-11-09
