Aiming for more ambitious projects than America or Russia, China soon plans to send people to the moon not just to plant a flag for photo-ops, but to attempt to tap the moon’s mineral resources and undertake medical and other research, and to someday establish a base there and then travel to Mars. Is it too far-fetched to foresee that China’s imaginative entrepreneurs – like our Filipino taipans John Gokongwei Jr., Henry Sy or Lucio Tan – would soon open the doors for space tourism to the moon, complete with boutique space-age hotels, levitating dimsum restaurants and dazzling high-tech shopping arcades?
USA and Russia congratulated China and acknowledged that this feat signals the nation regaining its once ancient status as a world power and technological leader. Adding to national fervor was the touchdown of the space ship coinciding with the 39th anniversary of the detonation of China’s first atomic bomb under the leadership of Mao Zedong. America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) administrator Sean O’Keefe said China’s launch was "an important achievement in the history of human exploration."
Developing nations like the Philippines should learn from self-reliant and determined China, not so much for its technological breakthrough in the space program, but its drive to overcome 19th and 20th century Western and Japanese colonial exploitation, regaining their national self-confidence and faith.
Like the Philippines today, China also once suffered a national epidemic of pessimism and gloom. A government white paper on their space program published in 2000 acknowledges an attempt to recapture a bit of China’s ancient glory. It said: "The Chinese nation created a glorious civilization in the early stage of mankind’s history. The gunpowder ‘rocket’ invented by the ancient Chinese was the embryo of modern space rockets."
If this writer were the President welcoming Dubya Bush to Malacañang Palace, I would feed him gayuma and other special foods to ask him to allow a Filipino pilot to join the next US space mission possibly next year, as a clever shortcut to sending the first ASEAN person into space! This proposal would be more interesting, inspirational and popular than asking for more bullets and military supplies for war purposes, a proposal that even the Communist front politicians in Congress would certainly approve of.
Sending a Philippine Air Force pilot or even an American citizen Pinoy balikbayan into space is not a silly or impossible idea. China’s new hero, taikonaut Yang Liwei, is actually the fourth ethnic Chinese in space – America’s Taylor Wang onboard the 1985 Challenger space shuttle was the first ethnic Chinese to go into space, followed by Costa Rican-born ethnic Chinese Cleave Chang-Diaz, and the third ethnic Chinese in space was Stanford-trained Dr. Edward Lu who on September 11, 2000 joined America’s space mission. Perhaps, President Gloria M. Arroyo can still make pahabol in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Bangkok by telling Dubya Bush this Philippine request.
If GMA is diyahe to beseech her ally Dubya for a seat in the next American space shuttle because Uncle Sam is already supporting us for a seat in the United Nations Security Council, perhaps our billionaire tycoons like Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala of Globe Telecom and Ayala Group, the Aboitizes, the Lopezes, the Concepcions or our Filipino taipans Gokongwei, Lucio Tan, Henry Sy, Jose Yao Campos and others can use their money to get into space? On April 28, 2001, the 60-year-old California-based multimillionaire Dennis Tito spent approximately $20 million (just above P1 billion) to become the world’s first ever space tourist on board a Russian Soyuz capsule.
Perhaps Gokongwei can use such a personal adventure to advertise his Cebu Pacific Air or his Sun Cellular, and Lucio Tan can use a personal voyage to space on board a rented Chinese Shenzhou spaceship as commercial for his new Ginebra Kapitan or Beer na Beer or Philippine Airlines? Not to be outdone, Danding Cojuangco can have his Russian spaceship to be sponsored by San Mig Light or Ginebra San Miguel. Perhaps the Concepcions can spare a billion pesos and have Joey Concepcion ride a Chinese spaceship, then advertise on CNN that he would eat lunch of Swift food products with Selecta ice cream for dessert? Manny Pangilinan could certainly afford to write off P1 billion on board a Chinese space ship, carrying with him a Smart cell phone to make his trip commercially worthwhile.
Unknown to most people, 30 countries on earth at least have the chutzpah and guts to dream of exploring space. Among these countries with their own space programs for years include Japan, India, South Korea and even our fellow ASEAN neighbors Malaysia and Thailand. When will our leaders inspire us to overcome our basic needs of food, housing, peace and order, national unity, discipline, in order for us to create a great capital city, world-class cultural centers, vast art museums and scientific marvels like a homegrown Filipino space mission?
In the recent ASEAN Summit in Bali, a Malaysian-Chinese tycoon told Philippine STAR: "Nations need inspirational and strong-willed leaders whose words can be trusted. Our visionary leader Mahathir successfully established stability with decisive leadership and encouraged our economic miracle. Mahathir always said leadership is all about decisiveness. Right or wrong, you decide; don’t dither. He created a new administrative capital of Putrajaya with $5 billion. In fact, few people overseas are aware that even though Malaysia is a small nation, Mahathir reportedly approved a bold plan to spend one billion ringgit ($263 million) to eventually send the first Malaysian into space. Isn’t that exciting?"
On the morning of October 15, after news of China’s first taikonaut (from "taking," the Mandarin word for "space") going into space was reported by international mass media, this writer did an instant survey via text messages on when can we ever have the First Filipino astronaut in space and on the moon?
Some of the text replies reflect the mood and true state of the sad republic today, which politicians or survey people cannot deny. It is amazing that prominent Filipinos as diverse as showbiz talk show host Boy Abunda and Senator Noli de Castro shared the same prediction: not within 50 years!
Top talent manager and TV talk show host Boy Abunda said: "Wishful thinking – 50 years from now. Realistic projection – 300 years from now. Meanwhile, we can devour all the mooncakes in Ongpin while we are bludgeoned by moon-like craters on the roads and highways all around the country, while we live with lunatics who rob us of the dream to one day send someone to the moon. Besides, why go to the moon when most of us haven’t been to our own country? Pakialaman pa ba naman pati ang moon?!"
Dr. Francisco "Dodong" Nemenzo, University of the Philippines president, texted: "I won’t predict when we can send the first Filipino to the moon, but I hope we can send our crooks to the moon!"
Mernardo "Butch" Jimenez Jr., vice president of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), said: "When the rain pours, it takes us four hours to get from Nichols to Alabang. Maybe we can figure that out first before we hope to send a Pinoy to the moon millions of miles away."
Fr. Carmelo "Tito" Caluag II, S.J., vice president of the Ateneo de Manila University, said: "We are already in the moon based on the conditions of some of our roads. Seriously speaking, I don’t think our country’s financial capacity can support that type of undertaking."
Lizzie Zobel, vice president of the Sa Aklat Sisikat Foundation and wife of business leader Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, texted: "I believe the Philippines should invest its resources on its people – education and health. To build a strong united nation ready to participate in a global tomorrow... Space travel is a wonderful exploration that will happen at the right time as a nation, but should not be a priority."
Douglas Quijano, top showbiz talent manager, said: "With all the kickbacks and all the protests (how many Pinoys can be saved from poverty!), it will never happen."
Eric Matti, director of new films Mano Po 2 and Gagamboy, said: "Going to the moon is so much of a luxury. With our kind of political leaders, we will never make it there because the Philippines decades or even centuries from now will just be busy trying to survive, trying to stay afloat. Hindi natin kayo ito."
Senator Kiko Pangilinan said: "Space exploration as a matter of national policy will have to wait until such time when we have addressed the more basic needs of our people, such as health, education and employment."
Risa Hontiveros Baraquel of Akbayan Citizens Action Party said: "I would rather think about when we Filipinos will reach inner space, both in the environment which we need to take care of and in our kalooban, in terms of reforming our personal and collective consciousness and culture."
Atty. Arthur Yap, National Food Authority (NFA) administrator, said: "We can only send a Filipino to the moon after we achieve self-sufficiency in rice production first! Our target is to achieve rice self-sufficiency by year 2005, with the help of hybrid rice technology to be planted in most of our four million arable lands in the Philippines. After that, we can start dreaming of the moon!"
Quezon City Fiscals League president Atty. Josephus Asis said: "I think we cannot send a Filipino to the moon, because it is not even included in the plans of our government."
Joseph Angelo de Guzman of RFM Group said: "It’s more realistic for us to improve our national self-image first, because sadly, everybody in our country today is only out for himself."
Batangas Governor Hermilando "Dodo" Mandanas said: "We have so much to do down here for us to even think of going to the moon."
Edgar Madrazo, vice president of the Philippine Amalgamated Association of Supermarkets, said: "We do not need a high-tech spaceship to orbit the earth in space, because our politicians have been so successful in leading us endlessly in circles up to now!"
Atty. Joel Cadiz, national president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), said: "Hurray to Chairman Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, the two men were the ones responsible for what modern China is now. We need great leaders, before the Philippines can send an astronaut to the moon."
Painter and businessman Alan SyCip said: "Maybe a Filipino astronaut can go to the moon only as crew on a First World country’s space ship, because we’re poor in mathematics and science."
Senator Noli de Castro has the longest response of all and he had already proposed a name for the Filipino astronaut as kalawakanaut from the Filipino word kalawakan for "space." He said: "In the history of space exploration, only three countries have successfully sent their men into space – USA, the former Soviet Union and, just recently, China. Looking at the background of these powerful nations and how long it took them to send one of their own beyond the earth’s hemisphere, and comparing them with the Philippines with the many problems we are facing, I think there is very little hope for our country to replicate the success of China within the next 50 years."
De Castro added: "Developing a space odyssey mission is the least concern of any developing country, especially the Philippines. The billions of dollars required to make a powerful space shuttle are better spent for programs that shall alleviate the economic condition of many of our impoverished countrymen. Until we have completely overcome all our fiscal problems and maintained a steady trade surplus, the Philippines shall remain a spectator as other countries make their first mission to the moon. Hopefully, we can put our act together within the first half of this century, then maybe we can start contemplating on sending a mission to the moon using our very own kalawakanaut."
It is not a crime to dream. The true success of China in its space program is not just an amazing economic miracle or scientific prowess, but having achieved that great leap of faith with their self-fulfilling image of themselves as the newest world superpower no longer to be oppressed by Russia, Japan or the West. Why are the oppressed Jewish minorities of the West, or our once disadvantaged overseas Chinese minorities of the East so incredibly successful despite adversity? Because of their cultural, moral and psychological will to survive and to achieve their dreams.
To be able to dream of a future conquest of outer space and the moon far away, we must first conquer our weaknesses, our cultural frailties, our national epidemic of pessimism. Regardless of who our political leaders are, we should vanquish, crush and exorcise the numerous demons in our national psyche and culture. What is worse than our high world ranking in government corruption? The corruption of our national spirit, the breakdown in moral values, the cynicism and bitterness polluting our air, all these are far more damaging to the nation than our already horrible government corruption crisis.
Thanks for your messages sent to wilson_lee_flores@newyork.com or wilson_lee_flores@hotmail.com or wilson_lee_flores@yahoo.com or P.O. Box 14277, Ortigas Center, Pasig City.