HISTORY of

SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY

in the PHILIPPINES
EARLY FILIPINOS
“Migration Theory”
• Henry Otley Beyer
(American anthropologist)

• first migrants were the

“Dawnmen” who came by
way of land bridges that
connected the Philippines
and Indonesia

• did not have any knowledge

of agriculture, and lived by
hunting and fishing
EARLY FILIPINOS
“Migration Theory”
• second migrants were
dark-skinned pygmies called
“Aetas’ or “Negritoes”
• crossed the land bridges
from Malaya, Borneo, and
Australia until they reached
Palawan, Mindoro and
Mindanao
• naked and were good at
hunting, fishing and food
gathering
• they used spears and
small flint stones weapons
EARLY FILIPINOS
“Migration Theory”
• third wave of migrants were the
Indonesians, who came to the
islands in boats
• were more advanced than the
Aetas:
- tools made out of stone
and steel
- engaged in farming and
mining
- used materials made of brass
- wore clothing and other body
ornaments
EARLY FILIPINOS
“Migration Theory”
• Malays were believed to have come in
boats from Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and
the Malay Peninsula 2000 yrs ago

• brown-skinned and of medium height,

with straight black hair and flat
noses

• technology was more advanced:

- pottery
- weaving
- jewelry making
- metal smelting
- irrigation system in rice planting
EARLY FILIPINOS
“Evolution Theory”
• Felipe Landa Jocano (Filipino
anthropologist)
• Bones -presumed to be a
human origin-were found in
the Tabon Caves of Palawan
and were tested to be 21,000
to 22,000 years old
• man came earlier to the
Philippines than to the Malay
Peninsula
EARLY FILIPINOS
“Evolution Theory”
• the first people of Southeast
Asia were products of a long
process of evolution and
migration
• these people eventually went
their separate ways; some
migrated to the Philippines, the
others to New Guinea, Java
and Borneo.
• proof can be found in the
fossils discovered in different
parts of Southeast Asia
 Precolonial Science and
Technology

❖ Stone age inhabitants

formed settlements in
Sulu, Davao,
Zamboanga, Samar,
Negros, Batangas,
Laguna, Rizal, Bulacan
and Cagayan.
 Precolonial Science and
Technology

❖ 3,000 B.C.- they

were producing
adzes, ornaments
of seashells, and
pottery of various
designs
 Precolonial Science and
Technology

❖ pottery making
declined (competition
with imported Chinese
porcelain)

❖ the present
manufacture of the
ordinary cooking pot
survived
 Precolonial Science and
Technology
❖ Filipinos learned to make metal
tools and implements

❖ they engaged in the actual

extraction of iron from ore, smelting
and refining

❖ iron industry did not survive the

competition with imported cast iron
from Sarawak and much later, from
China
 Precolonial Science and
Technology
❖ Filipinos were:
- weaving cotton
- smelting iron
- making pottery and glass
ornaments
- engaged in agriculture

❖ Lowland rice was cultivated in

diked fields and in terraced
fields which utilized spring
water
 Precolonial Science and
Technology

❖ building boats had become

a highly developed
technology

❖ warship called caracoa

❖ Spaniards later utilized

Filipino expertise in
boat-building and
seamanship
 Precolonial Science and
Technology
❖ Filipinos traded with Vietnam, China,
Borneo, Malay Peninsula

❖ alliance between the rulers of Manila

and Brunei had become strengthened by
marriage

❖ Hindu-Buddhist, Malay-Sanskrit and

Arab-Muslim Cultural and technological
influences spread to the Philippines
 Precolonial Science and
Technology
❖ many scattered autonomous
village communities

❖ kinship groups or social units

rather than political units

❖ they were essentially

subsistence economies
producing mainly what they
needed barangay
 Precolonial Science and
Technology
❖ settlements along the coastal areas
(Manila, Mindoro, Cebu, Southern
Mindanao and Sulu) attained a more
sophisticated technology

❖ interior and mountain settlements,

were still living as hunters and
gatherers and traded forest products
with the lowland and coastal people

❖ uneven technological development

Mindoro stone walls
 Precolonial Science and
Technology

❖ Manila had learned to make and

use modern artillery

❖ culverins and cannons

Philippine lantaka in a European museum

 Precolonial Science and
Technology
❖ Filipinos were:
▪ growing rice, vegetables and
cotton
▪ raising swine, goats and fowls
▪ making wine, vinegar and salt
▪ weaving cloth
▪ producing beeswax and honey
▪ making gold jewelry and filled
their teeth with gold
▪ wearing colorful clothes
▪ living in houses made of wood or
bamboo and nipa
▪ having their own system of
writing and weights and
measures
▪ counting the years by moons and
from one harvest to another
instead of calendars
Pre-Colonial Filipinos:

• were still highly • – no temples or places of

superstitious worship

• did not develop a written • - poor accumulation and

literary tradition dissemination of knowledge

• had abundance of natural • - little pressure for invention and

resources innovation
Spanish Regime

- start of scientific research

 Spanish Regime

religious orders and economic and trade

Spaniards established
schools, hospitals and rise of the country’s
started scientific research professions
Spanish Regime

Reduccion:
- Tax
- compulsory labor
- compulsory sale
of products to the
government
Spanish Regime

socio-economic dislocation
 Spanish Regime

The Jesuits founded:

❖ Colegio de San Ildefonso
(1595) in Cebu City,
❖ Colegio de San Ignacio (1595)
in Manila,
❖ Colegio de San Jose (1601)
❖ Ateneo de Manila (1859)

The Dominicans had the Colegio

de San Juan de Letran (1640) in
Manila
Spanish Regime

❖ primary instruction
was mainly religious
education

❖ higher education
was limited to the
elite
Spanish Regime

University of Santo Tomas -1611

theology,
philosophy,
humanities,
medicine, and
pharmacy
 Spanish Regime

ease in travel and communications

increased commerce

influx of ideas and scientific knowledge

provided professional advanced studies

Spanish Regime

Higher education was generally viewed with suspicion

Spanish Regime

charity hospital
Spanish Regime

Laboratorio Municipal de Ciudad de Manila - 1887

Spanish Regime
Manila-Acapulco trade
Spanish Regime
Spanish Regime

Research in agriculture and industry

Spanish Regime
Spanish Regime
Spanish Regime

Manila Observatory in 1865

Spanish Regime
Spanish Regime
 End of Spanish Regime
▪ the Philippines had evolved into a primary agricultural exporting
economy due to:
✔ government support for research and education in this field
✔ entry of foreign capital and technology which brought about the
modernization of some sectors, notably sugar and hemp production
▪ lack of interest and support for research and development of native industries
led to their failure to survive the competition with foreign imports
End of Spanish Regime

▪ medicine and pharmacy remained the most developed

science-based professions during the Spanish regime
First Republic

▪The government created the

Universidad Literaria de Filipinas
a secular, state-supported
institution of higher learning

▪It offered courses in law,

medicine, surgery, pharmacy and
notary public.
 American Regime

• This was due to:

•Science and • government support for an extensive
technology in the public education system
Philippines advanced • granting of scholarships for higher
education in science and engineering;
rapidly during the • organization of science research
American regime. agencies and
• establishment of science-based public
services
 American Regime

• free primary education, with English as

the medium of instruction
• Philippine Normal School trained
Filipino teachers
• Secondary schools were opened
• Medical School was established
• professional and technical schools were
founded
 American Regime

• University of the Philippines was

created
• most of the early instructors and
professor in the sciences and
engineering at UP were Americans and
other foreigners
• Qualified Filipinos were sent abroad
for advanced training and by this
means foreign faculty were gradually
replaced by Filipinos
 American Regime

• science subjects and industrial and

vocational education were introduced into
the Philippine school system
• industrial and vocation courses were very
unpopular with the Filipinos
• preference for the prestigious professions
of the time, namely, the priesthood, law,
and medicine
• Scholarships were offered by the
government to attract a sufficient number
of students to enroll in technical courses
 American Regime

• Bureau of Public Works was created

• no competent Filipino engineers

• effort was made to attract Filipinos to

pursue advanced studies leading to
careers as engineers in the US
 American Regime

• establishment of UP satisfied the needs

for professionally trained Filipinos

• elementary and secondary levels

increased the demand for professional
education

• private education became the

alternative for professional education
Silliman University, in Dumaguete City
 American Regime

• studies on the commercial value of

•Bureau of Science remained
the principal government research
establishment until the end of the
Second World War
• chemical and biological examinations
• manufactured the serums and
prophylactics
• research on such diseases as leprosy,
tuberculosis, cholera, dengue fever,
malaria and beri-beri.
tropical products
• tests of minerals and roadbuilding
materials
• nutritional value of foods
• published the Philippine Journal of
Science
 American Regime

✔Filipinos were provided

opportunities for higher education
in the sciences and engineering

✔Philippine economy became tied

to that of the United States

✔Industrialization was delayed

During the Commonwealth Period

• period of transition to political

independence
• created economic programs
• provide assistance to private Filipino
businessmen
• In spite of all these efforts, the
Commonwealth government was unable to
achieve its goal of economic self-reliance
• trade and tariff policies remained under the
control of the American government
 Japanese occupation

• brought educational and scientific

activities practically to a halt
• much of the country was reduced to
ruins
• The government had to contend with
economic reconstruction,
normalization of operations as well as
the task of planning the direction of
economic development.
Science and Technology since Independence

•Marcos Era and Martial

Law
more importance given to science
revitalized science courses in public high
schools
promotion of scientific research and
invention
Science and Technology since Independence

•Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos

creation of the National Grains Authority
instituted the Health Sciences Center
creation of the National Committee on
Geological Sciences
establishment of the Philippine Atmospheric
Geophysical and Astronomical Services
Administration (PAGASA)
Science and Technology since Independence

•Pres. Corazon C. Aquino

giving S&T a representation in the cabinet
came up with the first S&T Master Plan to
make the Phils. a newly industrialized
country by 2000
funding for the S&T sector was tripled
encouraged stronger bond between the
private and public researchers
Science and Technology since Independence

•Pres. Fidel V. Ramos

modernization and update of science
classrooms
Promotion of Health care services
National Program for Gifted Filipino
Children in S and T
The Intellectual Property Code of the
Philippines was formulated
Science and Technology since Independence

•Pres. Joseph E. Estrada

Focused on basic health care, basic
nutrition, and useful education
launched programs based on cost
effective irrigation technologies
pushed for the advancement of industries
and schools into the Internet age
Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999
Science and Technology since Independence

•Pres. Gloria M. Arroyo

the "golden age" of S & T
Numerous laws and projects concerning
the environment and science
"Filipinnovation" promoted the Philippines
to be an innovation hub in Asia
Passage of biofuels act
Science and Technology since Independence

•Pres. Benigno Aquino III

conferment of 4 new National Scientist for
their scientific contribution
▪ Gavino C. Trono - seaweed species
▪ Angel C. Alcala – coral reefs
▪ Ramon C. Barba -flowering of mango
▪ Edgardo D. Gomez - assessment of
damage coral reefs