GNED 06: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
VI. SELECTED INDIGENOUS SCIENCE
differentAND TECHNOLOGIES
indigenous science and technologies
INDEGENOUS SCIENCE
● Indigenous science is a product of
indigenous knowledge perfected by people
through life experiences.
● It is the use of science process skills guided
by community culture and values composed of
traditional/indigenous knowledge.
INDEGENOUS KNOWLEDGE
● Indigenous knowledge is one that is
embedded in the cultural traditions of
regional, indigenous, or local communities.
● This knowledge system is passed on orally
and is evident in their stories, poems, and
songs.
● Note that this type of knowledge also
includes superstitious beliefs and practices
which may be a product of human imagination.
INDEGENOUS TECHNOLOGIES
● Indigenous technologies, on the other hand,
are processes or products resulting from
studying indigenous science.
● It is designed and fabricated based on the
culture, tradition and needs of people and
which is adopted for use in the environment of
those people.
● While some indigenous sciences and
technologies are already obsolete, their
importance lies in that they helped early
communities in understanding the natural
environment and in coping with their everyday
lives.
● These are part of our rich and unique
cultural heritage. Let’s take a look at the
developed in the early times with some
examples from our country.
INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND
SCIENCE: HERBALMEDICINE AND
TRADITIONAL HEALTH PRACTICES
● Years before the arrival of the Spaniards in
the Philippines, the use of medicinal plants was
the common way of treating ailments and
there were several books that compiled these
medicinal plants.
● Since ancient times up to this day, medicinal
plants have been used for treatment in most
countries. In fact, the Department of Health
approved 10 medicinal plants (garlic,
sambong, guava, to name a few) to prevent and
treat certain diseases.
● Truly, the development of modern medicine
is based on the practices of plant-based
traditional medicine, a hundred of years of
beliefs and observations.
● We have hilot to treat sprains and
fractures, tawas to determine the cause and
nature of sudden illnesses through the use of
potassium alum, and many more.
INDIGENOUS SCIENCE: FOOD
PRESERVATION
● Ages-old food preservation techniques
include drying, smoking, cooling, freezing,
fermenting, salting, pickling, and canning.
● Drying and smoking are one of the most
ancient methods of food preservation. It works
because it removes much of the food's water
and therefore prevents microbial activity as
we all know now.
INDIGENOUS SCIENCE: CLASSIFYING
SOILS

● One of the indigenous practices of early
Filipinos is classifying soils for planting.
● Criteria used by early Filipino farmers in soil
classification are their experiences supported
by their ability to observe attributes of soil
resources. This is their way to identify the best
use, and appropriate management practices of
the soil resource.
PHILIPPINE INDIGENOUS
TECHNOLOGIES
● Indigenous technologies are processes or
products which are the results of studying
indigenous science.
● Following are the indigenous technologies
that have emerged out of Filipino’s creativity,
originality and inventiveness. These
technologies are now part of our lives when
they come to medicine, food products, industry,
and other aspects of human existence.
1. YOYO
● This is a toy consisting of an axle connected
to two disks and a string looped around the
axle.
● It is played by holding the handle (string)
by inserting one finger into a knot at its free
end.
● A Filipino immigrant to the US named
Pedro Flores is credited with popularizing the
toy in the 1920s, making it the ubiquitous
plaything that we still recognize today.
● While working as a bellhop at a local hotel
in Santa Barbara, Flores started hand-making
copies of the yoyo for local children.
● He was so instantly successful that he had
hired two other workers by November 1928 to
handcraft as many copies as they could
produce.
● This design, called the looped slip-string,
allowed the yo-yo to spin with greater
stability and suspension of movement. This,
in turn, enabled the player to perform a wide
range of tricks that previously weren’t possible.
● But even if he was the one who started the
craze of yoyo in the US, it was the Americans,
specifically Donald F. Duncan Sr., who mass
produced the yoyo, which became one of the
most distinct toys in history.
2. MEDICAL INCUBATOR
● Medical incubator is a device that provides
sufficient warmth to the body to maintain a
desired temperature, especially used for
newborn children.
● In a bid to help families in rural communities
without electricity, Dr. Fe del Mundo invented
a bamboo incubator in 1941.
● Her makeshift incubator was composed of
two native laundry baskets made of bamboo
which were placed one inside the other and was
provided with hot water all around between the
baskets to make warmth available to the
newborn babies,
especially premature born before the mother’s
37th week of pregnancy.
● Although she did not create the modern
medical incubator that we see now in hospitals,
her work still provided the theoretical basis
for it and the prototype as well. And did you
know that she was also the first Asian student
at Harvard University's School of Medicine?
3. ERYTHROMYCIN
● It is an antibiotic used to treat a wide
variety of bacterial infections, such as skin
and upper respiratory tract infections.
● On one fateful day in 1949, a physician
named Abelardo Aguilar collected soil
samples in his backyard in Iloilo to isolate
microorganisms. Little did he know that one
 of his isolates would then lead to the discovery
of the potent antibiotic Erythromycin.
● In good faith, he sent the soil samples to his
company who then worked on isolating a strain
of the Streptomyces erythraeae, which
produced Erythromycin as its metabolic
products.
● Commercially, the company launched the
product in 1952 under the brand name Ilosone
and Ilotycin, acknowledging where the
antibiotic came from. Sadly though, he did not
get the credit for this medical discovery. His
company Eli Lily Co. filed for both patent
protection and the U.S. Patent without giving
Dr. Aguilar any royalties nor credit for his
discovery.
4. PATIS OR FISH SAUCE
● Ruperta David, who was popularly known
as Aling Tentay, was the woman behind the
discovery of this condiment in the Philippines
in the 1940s.
● Tentay Patis was born as a sideline. Like
most moms, Aling Tentay was just looking for
ways to provide for her growing family. Never
in her wildest dreams did she imagine that her
homegrown backyard business would one day
become an internationally distributed brand.
● The family’s main fishing business had a big
catch for the day, and conscious about wastage,
Aling Tentay pickled the unsold fish. When it
fermented later on, some of the salted fish that
she stored in a jar turned into fragments which
then resulted into a liquid mixture.
● She first had friends and family try the new
discovery, giving it out as gifts, and then
selling it (as a by-product) to make extra
money on the side. From then on, the business
started but was only registered in 1949 as
Tentay Food and Sauces Inc.
5. BANANA CATSUP
● Banana Catsup is a condiment that many
Filipinos love to use for almost every known
fried dish.
● This was actually the brainchild of a Pinay
food technologist Maria Orosa y Ylagan.
According to historical accounts, she created
the first recipe for banana catsup and
experimented with foods that are native to the
Philippines.
● One day, she created a banana sauce with
mashed bananas, vinegars, and spices. The
brownish yellow color was not very appetizing,
so a little red dye was added, turning it
to what is today known as banana ketchup.
● Orosa was also the woman behind the
discovery of food products such as calamansi
nip, a desiccated powdered form of
calamansi to make calamansi juice, and
Soyalac and Darak.
● Soyalac - is a protein-rich, highly
nutritious powdered soybean product.
● Darak - is a rice by-product that is high in
B vitamins, thiamine, and vitamins A, D, and
E (intended to fight the vitamin B deficiency
disease, beriberi).
● These “magic food” became a great help to
save the lives of many prisoners during World
War II which were locked in concentration
camps known for poor sanitation, and lack of
food that resulted to a lot of death due to
malnutrition.
6. ANTI-CANCER CREAM AND
MOLE REMOVER
● Rolando dela Cruz - is a Filipino inventor
who won the gold medal for creating an anti-
cancer cream at the prestigious International
Inventor’s Forum in November of 2005.
 ● It is called “DeBCC” cream, and was
developed from cashew nuts and other local
herbs.

● It is used specifically for basal skin

carcinoma (BSC), which is known as the most
prevalent type of skin cancer worldwide.

● Fourteen patients with chronic skin cancer

were said to have been cured within 16 weeks
with the application of the cream on the
affected areas.

● The trial involved no radical surgeries or

procedures. No recurrences were noted after a
follow-up of more than two years. He was also
able to develop a cream that allows removal of
deep growth moles and warts on skin.

7. 16-BIT MICROCHIP
● Diosdado Banatao - developed the first
single-chip graphical user interface
accelerator that made computers work a lot
faster.

● This invention has allowed computer users to

make graphical presentations using graphics
for commands through small chips instead of
using large boards.

● After finishing his master's degree, Banatao

worked with different technology companies
such as the National Semiconductor, Intersil,
and Commodore International where he
designed the first single chip, 16-bit
microprocessor-based calculator.

● In 1981, he discovered and invented the

first 10-Mbit Ethernet CMOS with silicone
coupler data-link control and transceiver
chip while working in SEEQ Technology.

● He was also credited for the first system

logic chip set for IBM's PC-XT and the PC-
AT; the local bus concept and the first
Windows Graphics accelerator chip for
personal computers.