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• A history of science and technology in the Philippines was discussed by Olivia C. Caoili.
• The development of science and technology in the Philippines can be traced from Pre-Colonial times up to the present and these contributions help in nation-building.
• Low salaries of scientists employed by the government were also noted in the US Economic Survey to the Philippines in 1950.
• During the American Period and Post-Commonwealth Era, there was a lack of focus on the development of industrial technology due to the free trade policy with the United States which nurtured an economy geared towards agriculture and trade.
• The US Economic Survey to the Philippines in 1950 highlighted a lack of basic information necessities to the country's industries, minimal support of experimental work, and a low budget for scientific research.
• The Filipinos in the Pre-colonial Period developed simple tools, weapons of stone flakes, and used sawing and polishing stones.
• The Filipinos learned to use and produce copper, bronze, iron, and gold metal tools and ornaments in the Pre-colonial Period.
• During the Pre-colonial Period, the Filipinos were trading with Champa (Vietnam) and those from Ma-I (Mindoro) with China.
• The Philippines, China, and Vietnam had regular trade relations during the 10th to 15th century A.D.
• The Filipinos in the Pre-colonial Period developed a system of writing (alibata), a method of counting and weights and measure.
• Real Sociedad Economica de los Amigos Del Pais de Filipinas, the first research society in the Philippines, was founded in 1780 during the Spanish Colonial Period.
• The Spanish Colonial Period contributed to the field of engineering by constructing government buildings, churches, roads, bridges and forts.
• Trade was given more focus and priority during the Spanish Colonial Period, resulting in agriculture and industrial development being relatively neglected.
• Pre-colonial Period was counted by the period of the moon and from one harvest to another.
• Chemists Dr. Trinidad Pardo de Tavera and Dr. Leon Ma Guerrero were also contributors to science during the Spanish Colonial Period.
• Jesuits promoted meteorological studies, founding Manila observatory at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila in 1865 during the Spanish Colonial Period.
• Dr. Manuel Guerrero, Dr. Jose Montes, and Dr. Elrodario Mercado were medicine scholars during the Spanish Colonial Period.
• San Juan Lazaro Hospital, the oldest in the Far East, was founded in 1578 during the Spanish Colonial Period.
• The Spanish introduced formal education and founded scientific institutions during the Spanish Colonial Period.
• In 1863, the colonial authorities issued a royal degree to reform the existing educational system during the Spanish Colonial Period.
• Parish schools were established during the Spanish Colonial Period where religion, reading, writing, arithmetic and music were taught.
• In 1871, the school of medicine and pharmacy were opened in UST, granting the degree of Licenciado en Medicina to 62 graduates during the Spanish Colonial Period.
• Fr. Ignacio Mercado, a botanist, was a contributor to science during the Spanish Colonial Period.
• The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 led to an influx of European visitors to the Spanish colony, influencing some Filipinos to study in Europe.