Outgoing lawmaker to continue lobby for space commission

KALIBO, Philippines (Xinhua) - The government must continue to dream and to strive to have a space commission in the nearest possible time, a lawmaker said today.

Outgoing representative Angelo Palmones of the Alyansa ng Grupong Haligi ng Agham at Teknolohiya (AGHAM) partylist said that he will continue to lobby to the Congress and the Senate the need to have a space agency.

The AGHAM after serving only one term as a partylist representative failed to reach the needed number of votes during the recent election.

"I will still continue to promote advancement of science and technology even to my personal capacity. I will still push for the Philippines to have its own science agency," Palmones said.

If the Philippine government wanted to, having a space agency is not really considered an impossible dream, he said.

The Philippines' counterparts in Southeast Asia have already started building their  respective space agencies. Among these countries were Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.

"Having a space commission is a national pride. Our Filipino astronomers are also hoping for these possibilities," said Palmones.