Philippine Center for Aerial Phenomenon Studies

Historical Perspective

Interest and academic curiosity in the UFO phenomenon, on the part of Field Investigator Edwin V. Gatia, began in the mid-1960s when the then Manila Chronicle, one of the national dailies circulating during the pre-martial law era, ran a series of feature articles on widely known UFO sighting incidents.    However, the interest to pursue the investigation of alleged sighting cases did not begin until after sometime in June of 1979 when the famous astronomer, Dr. Josef Allen Hynek, wrote a letter to Mr. Gatia regarding the importance of investigating alleged UFO sighting cases in the country.   Dr. Hynek, the former astronomer-consultant to the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book (which ended in 1969), was at that time already world-famous as one of the world's leading researchers on the UFO phenomenon.      ROBERT PRATT ROLANDO ESPINA In June of that year, Mr. Gatia was introduced by MR. ROLANDO ESPINA, who was then the local Bureau Chief of the Philippine News Agency (PNA), to a visiting American journalist- MR. ROBERT "BOB" PRATT, who was then writing for the National Enquirer.    The Philippines has just experienced a "wave" of sightings in the first quarter of year 1979 on a nationwide scale.  The wave extended well on towards the mid-1980s which brought about interesting cases, including, among others, Close Encounter involving (alledged) presence of"entities" (CE-3 case) as well as reported "Landing Incidents" (CE-2s) in Mindoro and Samar, "Nocturnal Lights" (NLs) and some "Daylight Discs" (DDs) cases (noted especially was the DD case involving the American Peace Corp volunteer (PCV) RON KRUPPA who was then with the Philippine Eagle Program in Davao. Mr. Pratt had come to investigate the various alleged sightings for the Enquirer and readily handed over to Mr. Gatia a copy of the Field Invesigator's Manual of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).   A letter dated 08-July-1985 from MR. ROBERT D. BOYD of CUFOS was received by Mr. Gatia as a follow-up from previous communication with Dr. Hynek.   By the mid-1980s, the "Center" was operating at the (amateur astronomical) Montevista Observatory in the City of Bacolod, Philippines, where the collection and preparation of analysis reports of purported sighting incidents was undertaken. The collection was mainly done utilizing the investigative procedures outlined in the MUFON Manual using the standardized MUFON questionaires. Analysis of sighting reports by the public were "processed" and prepared utilizing the official CUFOS format and sent to ROBERT  D.  BOYD, who was then the Investigator Coordinator for the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS).   The ensuing exchanges of communications between Mr. Gatia and Mr. Boyd, as well as with other affiliates of the Center notably, among others, DR. JOEL YAP,  EDWIN  L.  BONDOC, and PROF. ROSENDA TIU-CINCOFLORES of the Physics Department of the (now defunct) Divine Word University (DWU) in Tacloban City, eventually led to the establishment of the Center as an "Invisible Agency" comprising of enthusiastic individuals who are dedicated to the pursuit of documenting cases involving purported Anomalous Aerial Phenomenon (UFO) experienced in the Philippines.    .