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The space program of the Philippines is being maintained by several government agencies under the Department of Science and Technology. Among these agencies are the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council The Department of Science and Technology and the Manila Observatory have crafted a 10-year masterplan in 2012 with the goal of making the Philippines a "space-capable country" by 2022. A unified Philippine Space Agency is also planned to be established.
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Early initiatives
Efforts to establish a Philippine space program dates as early as in the 1960s, when US President Lyndon Johnson discussed with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in 1966 about the possibility of establishing a joint US–Philippine space program, primarily for the purpose of monitoring storm conditions in Asia. If such plans have pushed through it would have been the first time Asians get involved in space activities. The Philippines was among the first Asian nations, along with China, India, and Japan to get involved in space activities.
In the mid-1960s, the Philippine Communications Satellite (Philcomsat) was established when the government built an Earth satellite receiving station. Philcomsat is a founding member of Intelsat an international satellite consortium. It also had an exclusive franchise for satellite communication in Southeast Asia as well as in Korea and Japan. It was also responsible for providing the equipment which enabled people in Asia to watch the Apollo 11 launch which took place in July 16, 1969. The originally wholly government-owned company became a private corporation in 1982.
PASI and Mabuhay's satellite ventures
In 1974, the Philippines planned to use satellites to improve communications. The leasing of satellites from Intelsat was considered but it was later decided to lease capacity from the Indonesian Palapa system. There were interests for a national communication satellite but initiatives to obtain one did not start until 1994, when the Philippine Agila Satellite Inc. (PASI) a consortium of 17 companies was established to operate and purchase domestic satellites.
The Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation (MPSC) another consortium was formed in the same year by PLDT which was a former member of PASI. PLDT was the largest member of PASI before its departure from the consortium. MPSC was composed of numerous domestic telecommunications and broadcasting companies along with Indonesia-based Pasifik Satelit Nusantara and China-based Everbright Group.
Then President Fidel V. Ramos expressed his desire for a Philippine satellite to be in orbit in time for the APEC Summit to be held in the country in November 1996.
MPSC complied with the acquisition of Indonesian satellite Palapa B-2P from Pasifik Satelit Nusantara. The satellite was moved to a new orbital slot on August 1, 1996. The satellite is renamed Mabuhay and became the first satellite in orbit to be owned by the country.
Mabuhay launched the country's first satellite, Agila-2, with assistance of China. The communications satellite was launched through the Long March 3B at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on August 19, 1997. Agila-1, formerly Palapa B-2P and also known as Mabuhay, the country's other satellite at that time was originally launched as an Indonesian-owned satellite only to be acquired by a Philippine entity in 1996.
DOST's microsatellite program
In the 2010s the government actively got involved in space ventures. The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) initiated the Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Microsatellite (PHL-Microsat) program which will send two microsatellites in 2016 and 2017. The effort is part of the country’s disaster risk management program. A receiving station will also be built in the country. The efforts were part of a bigger project together with seven other Asian countries aside from Japan and the Philippines to create a network of about 50 microsatellites.
The first satellite under this program Diwata-1, the first satellite designed and assembled by Filipinos with cooperation from the Hokkaido University and Tohoku University. One of the major goals of the PHL-Microsat program is to boost the progress on the creation of the Philippine Space Agency.
Space education
The Department of Science and Technology–Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) launched the first Philippine Space Science Education Program (PESSAP) in 2004, to promote science and technology, particularly space science as a field of study, to the Filipino youth.