EDITORIAL — It shouldn’t take rocket science

During his recent State of the Nation Address, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. mentioned there was going to be a sounding rocket launch test in Cagayan in 2027.

“Yes, we are going to launch a rocket into space,” he said.

He goes on to say that the launch will be carried out with a South Korean aerospace company and that Cagayan is geographically and economically positioned to become the country's “gateway to space” and the site of the Philippines' first spaceport.

An article by the Philippine Information Agency gives even more flesh to this ambition. It said the launch would “help advance the Philippines’ launch capabilities, develop Filipino expertise in rocket technologies, and prepare for future space launch activities.”

This has raised reactions among people who think we are looking up to soon.

And to some extent, we agree. Before we set our sights on the stars, we should plant our feet firmly on the ground first.

What do we mean by this? Before we go pursuing our dream of a spaceport and positioning ourselves as a contender in space launch activities, how about we attend to our more pressing problems first.

How about we modernize the transport system in many of our fast-developing urban areas? How about we improve our national disaster response framework? How about we build those schoolrooms we always lack each school year opening? How about addressing our worsening education problem?

Many areas in our country are still not being reached by basic services. We should attend to such issues first.

The space launch industry is a highly-competitive one that requires a lot in the way of resources. And right now our resources are stretched thin.

We should also ask the question: Can we really compete against countries that already have existing rocket or space programs?

Don’t get us wrong. We aren’t saying that becoming a player in the space launch industry is a bad ambition. It’s a good one, but one that should come when the time is right.

It’s good to dream big, but we should prioritize more pressing goals over those that aren’t that urgent.  It shouldn’t take rocket science to realize that.