Aguila, John David C.

Arc-4205

STS

A. Pre-Spanish Era

There is not much written about the Philippines during pre-colonial time but analysis from
archeological artifacts revealed that the first inhabitants in the archipelago who settled in Palawan
and Batangas around 40 000 years ago have made simple tools or weapons of stone which
eventually developed techniques for sawing, drilling and polishing hard stones. They learned that
by polishing hard stones, they can develop sharp objects that are useful in their day to day
activities. They have come to understand that when clay is mixed with 2 water and then shaped
into something before sun drying, it hardens to an object that can also be useful to them. As the
early Filipinos flourished, they have learned how to extract, smelt and refine metals like copper,
gold, bronze and iron from nature and consequently fashion them into tools and implements. As
the inhabitants shifted from wandering from one place to another and learned to settle in areas
near the water source, they also learned how to weave cotton, engaged themselves in agriculture
and are knowledgeable on building boats for coastal trade.

B. Spanish Colonial Era

As claimed by Caoili (1983), the beginnings of modern science and technology in the country
can be traced back to the Spanish regime because they established schools, hospitals and started
scientific research that had important consequences in the development of the country. One
notable example of course is our national hero, the great Dr. Jose P. Rizal. Dr. Jose Rizal is the
epitome of the Renaissance man in the Philippine context. He is a scientist, a doctor, an engineer
(he designed and built a water system in Dapitan), a journalist, a novelist, an urban planner and
a hero. Being a doctor and scientist, he had extensive knowledge on medicine and was able to
operate his mother’s blinding eye. When he was deported in Dapitan, his knowledge on science
and engineering was translated into technology by creating a water system that improved the
sanitation of households in the area. Dr. Jose. The charity hospitals became the breeding ground
for scientific researches on pharmacy and medicine, with great focus on problems of infectious
diseases, their causes and possible remedies. And in 1887, the Laboratorio Municipal de Ciudad
de Manila was created and whose functions were to conduct biochemical analyses for public
health and to undertake specimen examinations for clinical and medico-legal cases. Its
publication, probably the first scientific journal in the country was titled Cronica de Ciencias
Medicas de Filipinas showed the studies undertaken during that time. As the colonization of the
Spaniards lengthened, they began to exploit the natural resources of the country through
agriculture, mining of metals and minerals and establishing various kinds of industries to further
promote economic growth. As such, scientific research on these fields were encouraged by the
government.

C. American Period

If the development in science and technology was very slow during the Spanish regime, the
Philippines saw a rapid growth during the American occupation and was made possible by the
government’s extensive public education system from elementary to tertiary schools. The growth
and application of science were still concentrated on the health sector in the form of biochemical
analyses in hospitals. The government supported basic and applied research in the medical,
agricultural and related sciences. During this time, there were already quite a number of qualified
Filipino physicians who held teaching positions in the College of Medicine. Moreover, the
American colonial government sent Filipino youths to be educated as teachers, engineers,
physicians and lawyers in American colleges to further capacitate the Filipinos in various fields.
However, there was difficulty in recruiting students for science and technology courses like
veterinary medicine, engineering, agriculture, applied sciences and industrial-vocational courses.
The government provided more support for the development of science and created the Bureau
of Government Laboratories in and was later changed to Bureau of Science. It was composed of
a biological laboratory, chemical laboratory, serum laboratory for the production of virus vaccine,
serums and prophylactics, and a library. The Bureau of Science became the primary research
center of the Philippines until World War II. Lastly, on December 8, 1933, the National Research
Council of the Philippines was established.

D. Commonwealth Period

When the Americans granted independence and the Commonwealth government was
established, the Filipinos were busy in working towards economic reliance but acknowledge the
importance and vital role of science and technology for the economic development of the country
by declaring that “The State shall promote scientific research and invention…” The short-lived
Commonwealth Government was succeeded by the Japanese occupation when the Pacific war
broke out in 1941. The prevailing situations during the time of Commonwealth period to the
Japanese regime had made developments in science and technology practically impossible. This
is also true when World War II ended and left Manila, the country’s capital, in ruins. The
government had to rebuild again and normalize the operations in the whole country.

E. S&T Since Independence

The Philippine government focused on science and technology institutional capacity-building

which were undertaken by establishing infrastructure-support facilities such as new research
agencies and development trainings. The trade schools produced craftsmen, tradesmen and
technicians that helped in shaping a more technological Philippines while still being an agricultural
based nation. Eventually, when these trade schools were elevated to college and university
status, they produced much of the country’s professionals, although there was a great disparity
on the low proportion of those in agriculture, medical and natural sciences with those from teacher
training and commerce/business administration courses which had higher number of graduates.
The increase in the number of graduates led to the rise of professional organizations of scientists
and engineers. These organizations were formed to promote professional interests and create
and monitor the standards of practice.

F. S&T in the 60s to 90s

During these years, the government gave greater importance to science and technology. The
government declared in Section 9(1) of the 1973 Philippine Constitution that the “advancement of
science and technology shall have priority in the national development.” On April 6, 1968, Pres.
Ferdinand Marcos proclaimed the 35-hectare land in Bicutan, Taguig as the site of the Philippine
Science Community. Then in 1969, the government provided funds to private universities to
encourage them to conduct research and create courses in science and technology. In the 1970s,
focus on science and technology was given to applied research and the main objective was to
generate products and processes that were supposed to have a greater beneficial impact to the
society. Then in 1972, by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 4, the National Grains Authority was
created and it was tasked to improve the rice and corn industry and thereby help in the economic
development of the country. On the following year, the Philippine National Oil Company was
created by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 334, s. 1973, to promote industrial and economic
development through effective and efficient use of energy sources. In the 1980s, science and
technology was still focused on applied research. The expanding number of science agencies
has given rise to a demand for high calibre scientists and engineers to undertake research and
staff universities and colleges. In 1986, under the Aquino administration, the National Science
and Technology Authority was replaced by the Department of Science and Technology, giving
science and technology a representation in the cabinet. The Department of Science and
Technology (DOST) is the premiere science and technology body in the country charged with the
twin mandate of providing central direction, leadership and coordination of all scientific and
technological activities, and of formulating policies, programs and projects to support national
development. Still under the Ramos administration, DOST established the “Science and
Technology Agenda for National Development (STAND)”, a program that was significant to the
field of S&T. In the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration, numerous laws and projects were
implemented which concerns both the environment and science to push technology as a tool to
increase the country’s economic level. Recently, the Philippines ranked 73rd out of 128
economies in terms of Science and Technology and Innovation (STI) index, citing the country’s
strength in research and commercialization of STI ideas (DOST, 2018).

G. Hopes in Philippines S&T

Despite the many inadequacies, from funding to human capital, there are some science and
technology-intensive research and capacity-building projects which resulted in products which are
currently being used successfully and benefits the society. One of these is the micro-satellite. It
was designed, developed and assembled by Filipino researchers and engineers under the
guidance of Japanese experts. In April 2016, the country launched into space its first micro-
satellite called Diwata-1. The country also has the Nationwide Operational Assessment of
Hazards (NOAH), which uses the Lidar (light detection and ranging) technology. Project NOAH
was initiated in June 2012 to help manage risks associated with natural hazards and disasters.
Another hope lies in the so-called Intelligent Operation Center Platform. Established through a
collaboration between the local government of Davao City and IBM Philippines Inc., the center
resulted in the creation of a dashboard that allows authorized government agencies, such as
police, fire and anti-terrorism task force, to use analytics software for monitoring events and
operations in real time.

H. Current Initiatives in Philippine S&T

DOST, in cooperation with HEIs and research institutions, established advanced facilities that
seek to spur R&D activities and provide MSMEs access to testing services needed to increase
their productivity and competitive advantage. One is the Advanced Device and Materials Testing
Laboratories. There are also high-performance computing facilities that perform tests and run
computationally intensive applications for numerical weather prediction, climate modeling, as well
as analytics and data modeling and archiving. The Philippines could also boast of its Genome
Center, a core facility that combines basic and applied research for the development of health
diagnostics, therapeutics, DNA forensics and preventive products, and improved crop varieties.
The country also has drug-discovery facilities, which address the requirements for producing high-
quality and globally acceptable drug candidates. There are also radiation processing facilities that
are used to degrade, graft, or crosslink polymers, monomers, or chemical compounds for
industrial, agricultural, environmental and medical applications.