History of Science and

Technology in the Philippines

STONE AGE
• Archeological findings show that modern man from Asian mainland first came
over land on across narrow channels to live in Batangas and Palawan about
48,000 B.C.
• Settlement in Sulu, Davao, Zamboanga, Samar, Negros, Batangas, Laguna, Rizal,
Bulacan and Cagayan.
• Inventions
• They made simple tools and weapons of stone flakes and later developed method of sawing
and polishing stones around 40,000 B.C.
• 3,000 B.C. they were producing adzes ornaments of seashells and pottery.
• They learned to produce copper, bronze, iron, and gold metal tools and ornaments.
Iron Age
• Lasted from there third century B.C. to 11th century A.D.
• Filipinos were engaged in extraction smelting and refining of iron from ores, until the importation of cast iron from
Sarawak and later from China.
• Filipinos from the Butuan were trading with Champa (Vietnam) and those from Ma-I (Mindoro) with China. ( bee wax,
cotton, pearls, coconut heart mats, tortoise shell and medicinal betel nuts, panie cloth for porcelain, leads fishnets
sinker, colored glass beads, iron pots, iron needles and tin).
• Inventions
• They learn to weave cotton, make glass ornaments, and cultivate lowland rice and dike fields of terraced fields
utilizing spring water in mountain regions.
• They also learned to build boats for trading purposes.
• Spanish chronicles noted refined plank built warships called caracoa suited for interisland trade raids.
Pre-colonial Period
• Filipinos were already engage in activities and practices related to science
forming primitive or first wave technology. e.g. making of wine, mining
gold
• They were curative values of some plant on how to extract medicine from
herbs(superstitious beliefs).
• They had an alphabet, a system of writing, a method of counting and
weights and measure.
• They had no calendar but counted the years by the period of the moon
and from one harvest to another.
Spanish Regime
• Establishment of school system manage by missionaries and priest (religion-centered). e.g.
Colegio de San Ildefonso-Cebu-1595 Colegio de San Ignacio-Manila-1595 Colegio De Nuestra
Senora del Rosario-Manila-1597 Colegio De San Jose-Manila-1601.
• Development of Hospitals San Juan Lazaro Hospital the oldest in the Far East was founded in
1578.
• In 17th and 18th Century, successive shipwrecks of and attacks of pirates on the galleons led to
declining profits from the trade that led to economic depression in Manila during the later part
of the 17th century.
• The Real Sociedad Economica de los Amigos Del Pais de Filipinas founded by Governador Jose
Basco y Vargas in 1780 encouraged research in agriculture and industry.
• The society promoted cultivation of indigo, cotton, cinnamon, and silk industry.
Spanish Regime
• In 1789 Manila was opened to Asian shipping, inaugurating an era of increase in export of rice,
hemp, tobacco, sugar, and indigo, and imports of manufacturing goods.
• The 19th Century In 1863 the colonial authorities issued a royal degree to reform the existing
educational system.
• In 1871 the school of medicine and pharmacy were opened to UST, after 15 years it had
granted the degree of Licenciado en Medicina to 62 graduates.
• There were no school for engineering but they offered nautical four year course for pilot of
merchant marine that includes the subject: a. Arithmetic, b. Algebra, c. Geometry, d.
Trigonometry, e. Physics, f. Hydrography, g. Meteorology h. Navigation, and i. Pilotage.
• Jesuits promoted meteorological studies founding Manila observatory at the Ateneo Municipal
de Manila in 1865.
American Regime
• Science and technology advance rapidly by the government encouragement and
support.
• Creation of Department of Public Instruction which offers free and
compulsory elementary (600 teachers from USA taught in Philippines,
Philippine Normal School, Philippine Medical School).
• Promotion of higher education in sciences and government research
institution and agencies performing technical function (Liberal Arts,
Veterinary medicine, law).
• Trained and qualified Filipino teachers (they were sent abroad for advanced
training).
• Men and women must finished in American Colleges (Pensionados)
American Regime
• Scholarships for advanced studies of a scientific or technical nature.
• Produces medical doctors, engineers,
• Proliferation of schools as business enterprises and no definite government
policies.
• Government was responsible in supervising private schools due to
substandard private schools (Monroe survey).
• Creation of Bureau of Science as government research establishment and
training ground of Filipino Scientist (Vaccines, dse like leprosy, tuberculosis,
cholera, dengue fever, malaria and beri-beri and scientific developments).
Commonwealth Period

• Promotion of scientific development for the economic development.

• Expansion of public school system to accommodate all
schoolchildren.
• Curriculum revision (removal of Gr-7, double-single session and
reducing time or dropping certain subjects in basic education).
• Reorganization and establishment of government corporation to
perform development of natural resources.
Science and Technology Since Independence
• The State continues its support to education at all levels.
• Proliferation of schools and many of them were ill-equipped and ill-prepared to
provide quality education particularly in sciences and engineering (Standards).
• UP system remains the most developed with extensive graduate and
undergraduate degree programs in the sciences and engineering. (half of the
national budget for SUC’s)
• Low enrollment rate in agriculture, medical, natural and physical sciences (low
compensation of Filipino scientists).
Science and Technology Since Independence
• Engineering and science courses entail longer periods of study and been more
expensive to pursue.
• Little innovation and training of scientists and engineers.
• Scientific work in the government suffered from a lack of support, planning and
coordination after early postwar years.
• Creation of science agencies like PCARR, PSHS, PCRI, PTRI, NRCP, etc.
• Establishment of a Scientific Career System in the Civil Service by PD No. 901 .