Senators seek PhilSA’s help in fighting corruption through satellites

Senators on Wednesday sought the Philippine Space Agency's (PhilSA) assistance in addressing corruption issues, such as substandard and ghost flood control projects. 

During the Senate Committee on Finance’s deliberations into PhilSA’s proposed P1.38 billion budget for fiscal year 2026, Senator Rodante Marcoleta stressed that the agency can be made more relevant if it were able to relate itself to what is currently happening in the country. 

“Halimbawa, sa agriculture, andaming mga hoarder na ginagamit ‘yung mga cold storage, pagka-gusto nilang itago ‘yung mga sibuyas, mga produce natin... manipulate nila ang price, tatago nila, they will utilize the cold storages stationed in several parts of the country, ang mga warehouses. Is the Philippine Space Agency able to detect all this? ‘Yan ang importante kasi kailangan mahuli natin,” the senator asked. 

(For example, in agriculture, some hoarders use the cold storages when they want to hide onions, our produce... they will manipulate the price, they will hide, they will utilize the cold storage located in several parts of the country, the warehouses. Is the Philippine Space Agency able to detect all this? That is important because we need to catch those people.) 

When it comes to the anomalies in flood control projects, Marcoleta also asked for PhilSA’s help as he noted that he found at least 14 discrepancies in the coordinates on the Sumbong sa Pangulo website. 

“How can you help? Ito ngayon hinahanap namin ang mga flood control projects. Hindi naman lahat ghost eh. Pero 99% defective lahat. We want to know nasaan ang coordinates, the DPWH nagtuturuan na sila ngayon. Dito natin dapat makita ang tulong niyo,” he said. 

(How can you help? We are now looking for flood control projects. Not all of them are ghosts. But 99% of them are defective. We want to know where the coordinates are; the DPWH personnel are pointing fingers at one another. This is where we need your help.) 

“You should assert kung ano ‘yung kailangang kailangan ngayon. Halimbawa, pwede niyo bang ma-detect ‘yung mga bangko na pinaglagyan nitong mga kawatan na ito, kung nasaan ang pera...pwede niyo bang ma-detect ngayon kung nasaan si Zaldy Co?”

(You should assert what is needed now. For example, can you detect the banks where these perpetrators have deposited their money, where the money is...can you detect now where Zaldy Co is?) 

Deputy Director General Gay Jane Perez, in response, acknowledged the importance of highlighting how the Philippine government can use the space in such concerns.

She also affirmed that PhilSA can verify the locations of the coordinates on the website. 

Zaldy Co is the incumbent Ako Bicol party-list representative and the former chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations. He has been implicated in the flood control controversy but he denied allegations that he made P13 billion worth of insertions in the P6.3-trillion national budget for 2025. 

Last month, Marcos launched sumbongsapangulo.ph, a website designed to provide the public with access to information on flood control projects across the country. This will also allow them to report any irregularities on the said projects. 

Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian asked how the PhilSA’s Multispectral Unit for Land Assessment (MULA) satellite can help in fighting corruption. 

Perez said a P2.6 billion budget was allocated for MULA starting 2021 for its development, launch, and training of the engineers. 

“With MULA, wala nang ghost projects? Kasi meron na tayong satellite, twice a day umiikot. So twice a day siya kumukuha ng pictures,” Gatchalian said. 

(With MULA, won’t we have ghost projects anymore? Because we now have a satellite, it rotates twice a day. So it takes photos twice a day.) 

“Sana magamit namin ‘yung pictures para malaman kung merong ghost projects or wala. Ngayon kasi, it’s virtually impossible unless puntahan mo doon. So can MULA help the government now fight corruption?”

(I hope we can use the pictures to find out if there are ghost projects or not. Because now, it's virtually impossible unless you go there. So can MULA help the government now fight corruption?)

Perez then answered in the affirmative.

“Certainly, Mr. Chair. With this information, we know what’s happening. And we use MULA together with the other satellite data sources as well,” she said. 

According to Malacañang, the satellite would be built by Filipino engineers from the PhilSA. It aims to improve maritime domain awareness as well as 24-hour territorial monitoring and security evaluation.

The MULA satellite can cover 73,000 square kilometers in 24 hours, gathering data on all land, air and sea territory of the Philippines.

Once in orbit, MULA can also detect air and water quality; determine abundant fishing grounds; zoom in on traffic situations in cities and urban centers, and detect the presence of ships in the country’s territorial waters. —LDF, GMA Integrated News