State Governance for an Emerging Space Nation: Mapping Philippine Obligations Under International Space Law

This Working Paper maps the obligations assumed by the Philippines under the framework of international space law. Drawing from the Outer Space Treaty, the Liability Convention, and the Registration Convention, it distinguishes among four functionally distinct legal mechanisms through which State responsibility is structured in outer space: registration, authorization, continuing supervision, and liability. The Philippines’ accession to the Registration Convention in May 2024, and its ongoing domestic processes toward adherence to other United Nations space treaties, situate it within an international legal regime in which obligations attach upon consent and persist independently of domestic regulatory maturity. The paper emphasizes that international space law affords discretion in internal implementation only as to form, not as to the substance of responsibility. This work adopts a doctrinal and descriptive approach and provides a conceptual roadmap for understanding how an emerging space nation encounters treaty-based obligations. A version of this work is also available via the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). The present version serves as the archival, DOI-registered version of record.