Why do we need a space agency?

ASIDE from the United States and the Russian Federation, two other countries, namely China and India, have reached the surface of the moon by way of lunar vehicles.

Recently, Japan also sent up their own, making them the fifth country to reach the moon. That said, why does the Philippines have its own space agency? Is it also ambitioning to put a man or a vehicle in the moon?

Thanks to the resourcefulness of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), we were already able to put a micro-satellite up in space, not by sending up our own rocket, but by piggy backing on the rocket of another country.

Given our limited resources, that is already an outstanding accomplishment, for a third world country at that. The bottom line of that accomplishment is that we will be able to gather data from space that we could use here on earth, in our own country.

I do not think that the Philippines is planning to send a man or a vehicle to the moon. What is possible, however, is for us to send our own astronaut in space, possibly as part of an international mission, or possibly by piggybacking again, if you know what I mean.

I am not against the idea of funding our space agency so that it could do more projects or missions, but I am against the idea of spending money to acquire data that is already available, some of which may be free due to international cooperation.

One such commercial source is www.planet.com, and they have an office here.

HOW TO REDUCE GRAFT AND CORRUPTION

Graft and corruption are two separate human behavior and we should not confuse these two with each other. As it is supposed to be, these two are supposed to have a cause and effect, because it is actually corruption that causes graft, and not the other way around.

In theory, it is the public official who commits graft, after he or she is corrupted by a private citizen. However, it could also happen the other way around, in the case of extortion, wherein it is the public official who demands money from the private citizen.

I do not mean to be confusing, but the other side to extortion is solicitation, wherein it is the private citizen who solicits favors from the public official, in exchange for money.

Generally speaking, there will be no graft if there is no corruption, meaning that there will be no sin if there is no temptation. But of course, graft could still happen if there is solicitation, in this case the private citizen is the one corrupting the public official to commit graft.

One cause of graft is bribery, wherein it is the private citizen who offers money to the public official. The opposite of bribery could also be solicitation, wherein it is the public official who demands money from the private citizen, short of extorting from him or her.

How do we reduce graft?

I might sound naïve, but we could start by reducing the stimulus of graft, which is corruption. That is why it is important for us to know the difference between the two./