Pre-Spanish Era Philippine Technology

• During the pre-Spanish era, archaeological evidence indicates that the earliest inhabitants of the Philippines, residing in Palawan and Batangas around 40,000 years ago, crafted rudimentary tools and weapons from stone.
• They progressively refined techniques for sawing, drilling, and polishing hard stones, driven by the basic need to hunt and gather food.
• Polishing hard stones enabled them to create sharper tools for daily tasks, illustrating that technology arose from necessity.
• Early Filipinos learned to combine clay with water, shape it, and then sun-dry it to create hardened, useful objects.
• They discovered how to extract, smelt, and refine metals such as copper, gold, bronze, and iron from the environment, which they then fashioned into tools.
• As they transitioned from nomadic lifestyles to settling near water sources, they also learned to weave cotton, engage in agriculture, and construct boats for coastal trade.
• Primitive Filipinos practiced science and technology daily through crafts like stone carving, pottery, and metal smelting, demonstrating an understanding of the nature of matter.
• The Ifugaos' construction of the Banaue Rice Terraces and metal smelting showed knowledge of alloy composition and optimal temperatures for producing metals with acceptable strength.
• Overall, early Filipinos lived in harmony with nature, extracting what they needed through a simple understanding of natural processes.

Spanish Colonial Era

• Modern science and technology in the Philippines began during the Spanish regime with the establishment of schools, hospitals, and scientific research initiatives.
• These schools, primarily run by Spanish friars, produced the first Filipino professionals, with the Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Tomas as the highest learning institution.
• The Church's strict control and intervention in government hindered the progress of Filipino professionals, limiting their ability to enhance knowledge, conduct research, and contribute to societal advancement.
• Some Filipino scientists, like Dr. Jose P. Rizal, succeeded by pursuing education abroad.
• Dr. Rizal, considered a Renaissance man, excelled as a scientist, doctor, engineer, journalist, novelist, urban planner, and designed and built a water system in Dapitan.
• Charity hospitals fostered scientific research in pharmacy and medicine, focusing on infectious diseases, their causes, and potential treatments.
• The Laboratorio Municipal de Ciudad de Manila, established in 1887, conducted biochemical analyses for public health and specimen examinations for clinical and medico-legal cases.
• Its publication, Cronica de Ciencias Medicas de Filipinas, was likely the first scientific journal in the country.
• The Spanish exploited the country's natural resources through agriculture, mining, and establishing industries.
• Scientific research related to these fields was encouraged by the government.
• By the nineteenth century, Manila became a cosmopolitan center with modern amenities.
• Limited scientific research and its translation into technology resulted in stagnation of most industries.
• The Philippines became a primary agricultural exporting economy due to foreign capital and technology, which modernized sectors like sugar and hemp production.

The earliest Filipinos crafted tools from stone around 40,000 years ago. They refined stone polishing, pottery, and metal extraction techniques. Settling near water, they developed weaving, agriculture, and boat building.