TUAZON, JESSICA JOY M.
ZGE- 1109 1D
201901132219 June 15 2021
The need to develop a country's science and technology has been recognized as
one of the imperatives of socioeconomic progress in the contemporary world. Science is
concerned with the systematic understanding and explanation of the laws of nature.
Technology is often understood as the "systematic knowledge of the industrial arts"
Archaeological findings indicate that modern men (homo sapiens) from the Asian
mainland first came over-land and across narrow channels to live in Palawan and
Batangas around 50,000 years ago. Early Filipinos had a relatively simple level of
technological development compared with those of Chinese and Japanese. By the tenth
century A.D., Filipinos were trading with Champa (Vietnam) and Ma-i (Mindoro) They
also built boats for the coastal trade, which Spanish chroniclers took note of. These
boats were well suited for inter-island trade raids. The Philippines was ruled by the
Spanish from 1565 to 17th century. Trade links with Borneo, Malacca and parts of the
Malay Peninsula were established before the arrival of the Spaniards. Historians have
found no prehepatic references to the Philippines in Japanese literature of the period.
In 1570, the Spaniards found the town of Mindoro "fortified by a stone wall over
feet thick," and defended by armed Moros -- "bowmen, lancers, and some gunners,
linstocks in hand" The Filipinos were also mining gold in such places as Panay, Mindoro
and Bicol. The pre-colonial Filipinos were still living as hunters and gathering forest
products to trade with the lowland and coastal settlements. The Spaniards found no
temples or places of worship, but they did have a written literary tradition for messages
and letters. They seem not to have developed a written writing tradition at that time.
During the Spanish Regime, the Spaniards established schools, hospitals and
started scientific research in the Philippines. The colonial government also played a
major role in the development of science and technology in the archipelago during the
1800s and 1900s. The first century of Spanish rule brought about serious socio-
economic dislocation and a decline in agricultural production and traditional crafts. The
new system of local government was created by the Spanish colonial government under
the Datus de Barangay. Filipinos resisted reduccion as it took them away from their
traditional sources of livelihood. Primary instruction during the Spanish regime was
mainly religious education. Higher education was provided by schools set up by the
different religious orders in the urban centers. The University of Santo Tomas remains
as the highest institution of learning in the Philippines. It was established in 1611 by the
Dominicans. The study of pharmacy consisted of a preparatory course with subjects in
natural history and general chemistry. In 1876, the university granted the bachelor's
degree in pharmacy to its first six graduates. Among them was Leon Ma. Guerrero, who
is usually referred to as the "Father of Philippine". In 1887, the Manila School of
Agriculture was created by royal decree. It was designed to provide theoretical and
practical education of skilled farmers and overseers. Few Filipinos ventured to study
medicine and natural sciences during colonial era because they were seen as "impious
studies". There was little or no training in scientific research at the University of Santo
Tomas. The colonial government preferred to appoint Spanish and other European-
trained professionals to run the college. Many graduates later joined the revolutionary
movement against Spain during the Second World War. There are now more than PhDs
in the Philippines.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 enabled Filipino students to go to
Europe for professional advanced studies. It was this group of students which set up the
Propaganda Movement in Europe that led to the Philippine revolution against Spain.
The Philippines is now one of the wealthiest countries in the world. The Spaniards
introduced the technology of town planning and building with stones, brick and tiles. The
construction of the walls of Manila, its churches, convents, hospitals, schools and public
buildings were completed by the seventeenth century. By the second half of the
nineteenth century, studies of infectious diseases such as smallpox, cholera, bubonic
plague, dysentery, leprosy and malaria were intensified. There was very little
development in agriculture and industry during the first two centuries of Spanish rule.
This was largely due to the dependence of the Spanish colonizers on the profits from
the Manila-Acapulco trade, which lasted from 1565 to 1813. The Chinese who profited
most from the trade were the packers, middlemen and retailers.
In the 19th century, shipbuilding in the Philippines was left to the native Chinese
and the Spanish friars. The friar estates profited from the expanding domestic food
market as a result of the population growth of Manila and its suburbs. But their
contribution in the development of existing agricultural technology was more of
quantitative than qualitative in nature. In 1780, the Real Sociedad Economica (Royal
Economic Society of Friends of the Philippines) was founded by Governador Jose
Basco y Vargas. During the nineteenth century, it was endowed with funds which it used
to provide prizes for successful experiments and inventions for the improvement of
agriculture and industry.
In 1789, Manila was opened to Asian shipping. This inaugurated an era of
increasing Philippine exports of rice, hemp, sugar, tobacco, indigo and others. But
imports of manufactured goods also rose and foreign, particularly English capital,
dominated external trade and commerce. The Manila Observatory was founded by
Jesuits in 1865. The observatory became a central station of the Philippine Weather
Bureau in 1901. It provided meteorological, seismological and astronomical studies. In
1879, Fr. Federico Faura issued the first public typhoon warning in the Philippines. The
benefits of economic development during the nineteenth century were unevenly
distributed in the Philippines. While Manila prospered and rapidly modernized, much of
the countryside remained underdeveloped and poor. At the end of the Spanish regime,
the Philippines had evolved into a primary agricultural exporting country. There was
very little development in science and technology during the short-lived Philippine
Republic. The government took steps to establish a secular educational system by a
decree of 19 October 1899. During its short life, the Universidad Literaria de Filipinas
offered courses in law, medicine, surgery, pharmacy and notary public.
The University of the Philippines was established in 1908 by Act No. 74, which
provided for free primary and secondary school education with English as the medium
of instruction. Most of the early instructors and professors at the university were
Americans and other foreigners. By 1920, Filipino Ph.D.s were being sent abroad for
advanced training. The Philippine Commission introduced science and industrial and
vocational education into the country's school system. They found that industrial and
vocation courses were very unpopular with the Filipinos. Education in these professions
came to be regarded as the means of making the best of the limited opportunities in the
Spanish colonial bureaucracy.
At the outset of the American regime, there was no definite government
policy on private schools. The first attempt to regulate private schools was through the
Corporation Law (Act No. 1459) enacted by the Philippine Commission in 1906. In
1917, Act No. 2076 (Private School Act) recognized private schools as educational
institutions and not commercial ventures. In 1935, the Philippine Commonwealth was
inaugurated and ushered in a period of transition to political independence. The
government continued to expand its public school system to accommodate the
increasing number of schoolchildren. By 1936, there were 425 private schools
recognized by the government, 64 of which were universities. The Commonwealth
government worked towards the development of economic self-reliance. It created the
National Economic Council to prepare an economic program and advise the
government on economic and financial questions. However, it was unable to achieve its
goal of economic independence due to foreign trade and tariff policies. The number of
state universities and colleges in the Philippines has been increasing since 1946. The
University of the Philippines System remains the most developed with extensive
graduate and undergraduate degree programs. But many of them were ill-equipped and
ill-prepared to provide high quality higher education. The number of college students
and graduates from public and private universities and colleges has shown tremendous
increases since 1946. However, the proportion of those in agriculture, medical, and
natural sciences has remained relatively low. This is due to the fact that students tend to
enroll in courses where there are perceived employment opportunities. The Bureau of
Science was reorganized into an Institute of science in 1947. In 1952, the Commission
on Volcanology was also created and placed under the National Research Council of
the Philippines (NRCP) The NRCP's function was primarily basic research on
volcanology.
Colonial policies have over the centuries fostered a primarily agricultural, export-
oriented economy. This has led to a neglect and lack of support for industrialization in
the Philippines. Many of these science-based professionals have either been
unemployed or underemployed. There is a need for the government to reexamine the
interrelations between past and present education and science policies.
