As I browse this morning my Facebook feed, I saw Paolo Espiritu story, he is part of the team whom responsible in the making of DIWATA-1. I just want to share the struggle that he experienced and the dismay to the government.
Here's Paolo Espiritu story behind the historical launch and the sophisticated tech,
DIWATA-1.
" March 23, 2016 will go down in Philippine history as the day
we launched our first microsatellite DIWATA-1 into space. It truly is a
miracle, finishing it in just under a year, considering that most
microsatellites are developed within 4-5 years. Still, despite all the feats
and firsts, Science and Technology did not progress for Filipinos on this day.
Behind the historical launch and the sophisticated tech,
DIWATA-1 has a story untold on the news or the papers. Behind the story of the DIWATA-1 microsatellite,
is the story of the DIWATA-1 microsatellite engineers. Let me tell you our
story.
It all started in 2014, when we were invited to work on the
project. We have just finished our engineering degrees then, and naturally we
were all excited to build the Philippines’ first microsatellite. But upon
receiving the contracts, all of us were confused as to exactly what our
involvement in the project is. All the contract entailed was for us to receive
a scholarship to study Aerospace Engineering in exchange for years of return
service. Of course to build the satellite, we would have to study the
technology behind it, and so we expected that the scholarship was a given part
of the project. But according to the contract, that was it. Nothing more
followed. According to the contract, we
are to build the satellite without pay, with 4 years of return service. On
paper, we were just students. On paper,
we weren’t part of the project. On paper, we were not engineers.
Needless to say we directed our concerns to DOST to correct
the misunderstanding. We sent emails and made calls almost every day, but we
only received vague inconsistent answers and “We will get back to you”s. When
the trip for Japan neared to only a few days away, they started emailing
“Please send the signed contract as soon as possible”. At which point, we
requested for a personal meeting to discuss the terms of the contract.
In the meeting, we completely expressed our concerns, with
expectations that the contract be revised accordingly. But instead, we were
given a promise --- a promise that a more suitable contract will be made,
stating our clear involvement and responsibilities for the project, and most
importantly, our rights as engineers. In
their words, “take it in good faith, that you will be taken care of”. As we had
high respect and trust for DOST and the leaders of the project, we agreed to
sign the papers, thinking that this mission of building the satellite is above
any of us.
The following day, we all flew to Japan. Already on Day 1,
we started learning the software and designing the satellite, marking the
beginning of a very long and hard journey.
Days passed.
Weeks passed.
Months passed.
Years passed.
Now, it is 2016. The microsatellite is in space. Still,
empty promises and imaginary contracts. Still, we are merely students.
They call us “students”, yet normal students go in at 9am,
and leave at 5pm. Normal students attend class all the time. Normal students
are almost finished on their individual thesis projects. Normal students have
personal time on the weekends. Normal students enjoy holidays. But no. We are
not just students. We go in at 9am, and leave at 1am. Most of the days, we have
no choice but to skip our classes to work on the microsatellite. We have no
chance to work on our thesis projects. We go the lab on Saturdays. We go to the
lab on Sundays. We go to the lab on holidays. We go to the lab during
Christmas. So no. We are not just students.
Meanwhile the Local Team members and DOST officials, who
have no direct involvement in the actual microsatellite development, come and
go to Japan to attend seminars and events, with travel fees fully covered plus
salary, without subject to service bonds, and with a clear involvement in the
project on paper. It just really baffles me, how DOST can afford all these
visits, the airfare, the accommodation, and the fancy food, but when it comes
to the engineers, merely staying in Japan to work on the microsatellite is
taken against them, with the 7 year service bond (3 more added to the original
4). This PHL-MICROSAT project is a billion-peso project, and despite being an
engineering project, the engineers aren’t included in the project.
This doesn’t just stop with us DIWATA engineers. This
outrageous treatment is a grave insult of ALL Filipino scientists and
engineers. We are being used as tools in their projects, no more value than the
science equipment and apparatus. They implement service bonds to prevent brain
drain. But this disrespect, this injustice, this is what’s discouraging the minds
of the country to stay. Instead of creating a sustainable environment where
scientists and engineers would want to do research and projects in the
Philippines, they practically spit on their faces with low wages and minimal
rights. Now they wonder why the MRT is degrading, or why our agriculture is
dying. For a department named after science and technology that should be all
about progress, it does a pretty good job of obstructing it.
This is not the first time I’ve voiced all of these out to
others. I’ve already been warned by my friends, family, and colleagues, to keep
it to myself because of the possible consequences. But I refuse to keep silent.
I am not afraid of being judged as arrogant and entitled. I am not afraid of
being revoked of my scholarship and being taken out of the project completely.
What I fear, is that this saddening flaw in the system will continue to affect
future individuals. If everyone keeps silent and just accepts the system,
nothing will change. I refuse to let that happen. I refuse to let future
generations of aspiring Filipinos make the same sacrifices that we have made,
and let their rights be trampled on as ours were. I simply cannot.
March 23, 2016 may be the day we launched DIWATA-1. But as
long as Filipino scientists and engineers are undervalued and mistreated,
Filpino science and technology is doomed, and DOST might as well just send
random overpriced bits of metal into space, and call it a microsatellite."
Source: Paolo Espiritu Facebook
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