Various international space agencies congratulated the Philippines after learning the country has a space agency, according to Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA ) Director General Joel Joseph Marciano, Jr.

In fact, PhilSA received offers of support from the space agencies around the world, Marciano said.

In an episode of Malacañang Insider on Monday, Marciano particularly mentioned Japan’s big part in space technology activities of the Philippines.

Prior to PhilSA, Japan was already supporting programs of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Filipino students in obtaining Masters and Doctorate degrees.

“You know, when they first learned that the Philippines has a space agency, the first thing that we hear from them is, “Congratulations! How can I help you?” Marciano remarked.

“So, that’s really great. We were young, we were building up during the pandemic as well, and we have other countries extending assistance,” he added.

“So, of course, Japan has been a big part of our space technology activities even before the space agency, with the DOST programs, with their universities.  We sent Filipino students there to get their master’s and even their PhD’s.  Some of them are in the space agency.”

“We continue to cooperate with other countries. The space is a domain where it’s inherent to have international cooperation. We subscribe as a framework to the space value chain. So, basically, it’s components that we have to have in place in our country that would lead to socioeconomic benefit and value creation from space capabilities,” he added.

Marciano said PhilSA signed agreements with Argentina and the United Arab Emirates. He expects more countries to sign cooperation with PhilSA.

“So, we’ve signed agreements, I mentioned Japan. We signed an agreement also with Argentina, with the UAE.  There are more countries coming up soon that will sign cooperation agreements with [us],” he stated. | PND