FAMOUS FILIPINO SCIENTISTS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS
• Trinidad Pardo de Tavera
• Ramon Barba
• Raymundo Punongbayan
• Gavino Trono, Jr.
TRINIDAD PARDO DE TAVERA
Doctor Trinidad Hermenegildo Pardo de Tavera y Gorricho (1857-1925). Filipino
physician and historian. An outstanding Filipinologist who wrote notable scholarly works in
various fields of Oriental and Philippine studies; language, anthropology, folklore, etc.
His training and qualification as a doctor is simply immense. Trinidad received his
licentiate in medicine at the Faculté de Médecine de Paris and his bachelor in medicine
also in the same institution. In mid-1880s, he enrolled in École nationale des langues
orientales vivantes (now Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales) and took
courses under Pierre Étienne Lazare Favre. In December 1885, he received his diploma in
Malay language.
Contributions:
His first work, Contribucion para el estudio de los antiguos alfabetos filipinos, appeared
in 1 884 and was dedicated to Professor Ferdinand Blumentritt, noted Austrian Orientalist.
This monograph, his first contribution to Philippine historiography, was his debut
in the universal society of scholars.
One of his book 'Plantas Medicinales de Filipinas' is an outstanding study on the
different medicinal plants of the country.
It was published in Madrid in 1892. Its first part consists of a list of medicinal
plants with their scientific names, their popular names in the principal Philippine dialects
spoken in the Islands, their uses, and their description. Then follows an index according
to the qualities of the plants; the next part is a statement of their therapeutic value with
an alphabetical list of the most common ailments for which the plants have therapeutic
value. At the end is a general index to facilitate the use of the book.
But as a politician, history is simply unkind to T.H Pardo de Tavera. Perhaps he
always went to the wrong side, feeling safe on his stance, he never took chances. He
never tried the difficult and bold path like what Rizal did. Always mistrustful of
Aguinaldo, he jumped to the American bandwagon when things started to look dim for
the revolutionary. He, together with some notable "Balimbings" founded the "Partido
Federal" with the aim of total assimilation to the US and making the Philippines a
legitimate state in the American Union. Historian Teodoro Agoncillo once wrote: "Pardo
de Tavera should have been shot for his betrayal of the Revolution".
RAMON BARBA
Ramon Barba was born on August 31, 1939, the youngest of the four children. His
father, Juan Madamba Barba was a lawyer, and his mother Lourdes Cabanos was, like Ramon
himself, a graduate of the University of the Philippines.
Ramon Barba is a well-known Filipino scientist, especially to agriculturally
involved individuals in the Philippines for contributing towards advancements in the
mango industry.
He developed a process that caused the flowering and fruiting of mango trees
three times a year, instead on once a year, so dramatically improving yields.
In 2013 Ramon Barba became National Scientist in the Philippines for his “distinguished
achievements in the field of plant physiology, focusing on induction of flowering of mango and
on micro propagation of important crop species.”
Contributions:
Mango trees were seasonal, producing one crop a year and this limited the
country’s ability to earn precious foreign income from exports, because of the time that
the trees naturally take before bearing more fruits.
Filipino mango tree growers already had a system to make mango trees flower; it
involved using smoke (smudging) to help induce flowering. Barba, however, while he
was still a student, saw this as a tedious and expensive practice and he thought there
must be a more practical solution to induce the mango trees to flower.
He proposed that a chemical spray with Etherel (2-chloroethylphosphonic acid) may
induce flowering but could not obtain permissions to begin trials. He had previously conducted
research using Etherel and potassium nitrate and wanted a trial to try these fertilizers on mango
trees.
Barba patented his invention but charged no royalties, so allowing his findings to
be of benefit to mango growers world-wide.
He soon developed the plant growth enhancer “Flush” which speeds up the growth cycle
of trees and advances flowering.
From further studies conducted spraying “Flush” onto mango trees. This product
tripled the mango yield; making mangoes available thrice instead of just once a year; the
fruits were 15% smaller, but overall, the mangoes were of good quality. Later studies
showed that the trees which had been sprayed still bore fruit 30 years later.
Ramon Barba is a man who made the life changing discovery of flower induction
and applied this (and other findings) towards improving the quality of life for those in the
agriculture industry. Dr. Barba represents what it means to serve mankind and use your
talents for good.
RAYMUNDO PUNONGBAYAN
Expertise: Geology, Petrography, Petrology, Photogeology, Remote Sensing, Structural
Geology, Tectonics
Dr. Raymundo Santiago Punongbayan (13 June 1937 – 28 April 2005) was the former
director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS).
Dr. Raymundo S. Punongbayan was born in Manila on June 13, 1937. His
specialization includes structural geology and tectonics, environmental geology,
photogeology and remote sensing, volcanology, and geologic hazards mapping and risk
assessment. He was a BS Geology graduate of UP Diliman in 1960, and earned his PhD at
the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado in 1972.
Contributions:
A man of deep foresight with keen inclinations for aggressive research—that’s Dr.
Raymundo S. Punongbayan.
The successful forecasts that saved thousands of lives during the 1991 volcanic eruption
of Mt. Pinatubo was made possible through the able leadership of Dr. Punongbayan. Dr.
Punongbayan served as the director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology
(PHIVOCS) from 1983 to 2002.
During Dr. Punongbayan’s term, PHIVOCS was recognized internationally as an
authority in volcanological and seismological phenomena. His efforts for thorough
research on the fields of volcanology, seismology and disaster management as well as in
establishing training and development programs for the PHIVOCS staff paid off well.
Dr. Punongbayan is best remembered as the one who mobilized his team to dig a 5-
meter-deep drainage channel on the side of the Mt. Pinatubo volcano—10 years after its
eruption—to spill off about a quarter of the swollen volcanic lake that formed since the
eruption. He helped save almost 40,000 lives from perishing from a potential flash flood.
Dr. Punongbayan also served as governor of the Philippine National Red Cross
(PNRC). The PNRC has health and development projects that assist the Philippine
government especially during times of disaster.
GAVINO TRONO, JR.
Renowned for his outstanding contributions in the field of tropical marine phycology with
focus on seaweed biodiversity, biology, ecology, and culture, Academician Gavino C. Trono, Jr.
was conferred the rank and title of National Scientist by virtue of Proclamation No. 737 signed
by President Benigno Aquino III on March 13, 2014.
He is credited for his extensive studies on the culture of Eucheuma
denticulatum,Kappaphycus alvarezii, Gracilaria spp., Caulerpa lentillifera, and Halymenia
durvillei, seaweed that benefited thousands amongthe coastal populations. He was the
first to report the occurrence of “ice-ice” disease which has caused tremendous loss of
biomass in seaweed farms. He published papers on the open water and pond cultures of
Gracilaria, pond and lagoon culture of Caulerpa lentillifera and culture and management
of stocks of Sargassum. He led a team in a field survey and assessment of coastal areas
in Western Mindanao which identified sites in Sakol Island in Zamboanga and Tapaan
Island in Siasi, Sulu where the commercial seaweed farms were established in 1972.
His dedication to science led to the successful implementation of 45 research projects,
which resulted in the publication of 142 papers consisting of 20 ISI and 120 technical papers.
He was also able to describe and publish 25 new species of marine benthic algae. His first
major publications on the marine algae in the Northern Tropical and Western Pacific expanded
and altered the knowledge on the geographical distribution of the benthic algae in Central and
Western Pacific.
His strong advocacy on the culture of seaweeds as the most environmentally
friendly and productive livelihood for fisherfolks, has earned him many awards and
citations, which include the “Likas Yaman Award” from the Ministry of Natural Resources
(Philippines) in 1978, UP Alumni award In 1979, and Plaque of Recognition for his
outstanding scientific contributions to the advancement of the science of phycology in
the Philippines by the Asia Pacific Society of Applied Phycology in 2006.
