During the 16th century a convent in the Philippines called San Agustin had a Botica (Pharmacy) which

utilized medicinal plants. All sorts of medicines and remedies were used by the Friars in the convent.
Some were also sold to the locals who needed remedy. Fueled by faith, science and nature Father
Manuel Blanco dedicated his life to study the plants in the country and it's medicinal purposes.

The medicine were stored in jars and each one labeled with names of the drugs. The ones on display are
only recreations of the original storage. All was looted and destroyed in 1762 when the British came and
occupied Manila which was headed by General Samuel Cornish.

Augustinian missionaries loved science and in return helped a lot of the locals with their ailments.
Remedies made from the plants which were found around the country. This oil painting on display
created by a local artist shows the passion of the missionaries.

Among the contributors in recording medicinal plants is Father Ignacio Mercado. Known to be the first
local botanist to record more than 200 plants that thrived in the Philippines. No one knew the names or
benefits of plants during this era and his works greatly contributed to discovery of plant species.

Beautiful colored illustrations which is considered as an artwork. It was also known that Father Ignacio
Mercado even tested the effects of the plants on himself.

Among the greatest achievements from this convent is the "Flora De Filipinas" by Father Manuel Blanco.
A compilation about endemic plants in which the first editions the plants were not illustrated. Later on
illustrations were added on the collection done by local and Spanish artists.

The Botica has given a great contribution to our country in science and discovery. The years of hard work
and dedication of the priests and brothers in the convent are unforgotten. The works that they left us
will continued to be shared to our future generation.

The work first saw print in 1837, printed in Manila at the imprenta de Sto. Tomas, and its second edition
came in 1845, shortly after Blanco’s death. The third saw the book’s grandest incarnation, complete with
six tomes containing the friar’s original notes, and the unpublished manuscript of the therapeutic value
of local plants, authored by the first Filipino Augustinian botanist Fr. Ignacio Mercado. With these came
its contribution to Philippine art history: botanical illustrations in colored lithographs, created by 17
artists, 12 of whom were Filipinos.

Read more at [Link]

A room on the second floor is dedicated to Fr. Ignacio Mercado, a Filipino botanist who catalogued over
200 plants in the country at that time.

Born in Manila in 1648 to a Spanish father and a Filipino mother, Father Mercado’s work preceded by
200 years Augustinian friar and botanist Fr. Manuel Blanco’s “Flora de Filipinas.”

“It is not known by many Filipinos that Father Mercado was actually the first Filipino botanist who did a
systematic study of indigenous Philippine plants,” Father Villar says. “He was forgotten. But why was he
forgotten? His original manuscripts and paintings were lost but had been found recently at the Convento
de los Agustinos Filipinos in Valladolid (Spain).”

The Augustinian convent has over 40,000 books on Philippine history.

Father Mercado’s dedication is such that he would perform experiments on himself to find out the
effects of the different plants.

Father Villar says they are launching a book on Father Mercado in April 2016.

Trinidad Hermenegildo José María Juan Francisco Pardo de Tavera y Gorricho[1] (13 April 1857 – 26
March 1925) was a Filipino physician, historian and politician of Spanish and Portuguese descent.
Trinidad, also known by his name T. H. Pardo de Tavera was known for his writings about different
aspects of Philippine culture.

Today, April 13, is the 160th birth anniversary of the historian, writer and political leader Trinidad Pardo
de Tavera. Born in Manila, he met Jose Rizal, Marcelo del Pilar and other propagandists while in Europe.
He founded the newspaper La Democracia and was a member of the Philippine Commission. He also
became director of the National Library and Museum. He died on March 25, 1925. —Marielle Medina,
Inquirer Research

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. One of
his book 'Plantas Medicinales de Filipinas' is an outstanding study on the different medicinal plants of
the conutry. (I must say it is a good read on a rainy day). 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"

Reading some of TH Pardo de Tavera's works and some of his bibliography makes me want to say:
"Cmon he deserves a second look".

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RAMON CABANOS BARBA is a Filipino inventor and horticulturist best known for inventing a way to
induce more flowers in mango trees using ethrel and potassium nitrate. Barba was proclaimed a National
Scientist of the Philippines in June 2014.

Born 1939.

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.”

Early Life and Personal Background

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.

He finished his elementary education in 1951 at the Sta. Rosa Academy where he was the third highest in
his group. Barba then attended the University of the Philippines where he met Dr. Helen Layosa
Valmayor who was famous for her research about orchids; she was his teacher for biology laboratory
classes.

At the University of the Philippines in Los Banos, Laguna finished his college degree. In 1958, he
graduated and obtained his degree in Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, with a major in agronomy and
fruit production.

His inspiration to study in this field came from his grandfather, Juan Cabanas, who was then an official of
the Bureau of Plants and Industry (BPI) and Dr. L.G. Gonzales who is considered as the father of
horticulture in the Philippines.

Career Path

After graduating, Barba served as an assistant instructor from 1958 to 1960 in the Department of
Agronomy, Fruit Crops Section, University of the Philippines College of Agriculture (UPCA).

Barba left his university position to take up a scholarship which allowed him to attend the University of
Georgia. There, he conducted a number of experiments concerning how to make plants flower using
fertilizers containing gibberellic acid and potassium nitrate. In 1962, he graduated with distinction with a
Master of Science in Horticulture from the University of Georgia.

He furthered his education by obtaining a doctorate in plant physiology, specializing in tropical fruits and
tissue culture in the East-West Center in Hawaii. He earned his doctorate in 1967 with a Ph.D. in
horticulture.

Barba was appointed as assistant professor at the UPCA in 1969, later resigning in 1975. He was re-
appointed as a professor in 1981.

From 1975 to the late 1980’s he was also program leader of the Plant Cell and Tissue Culture Laboratory
of the Institute of Plant Breeding.

He also held several private consultancy positions during his career.

Career and Contributions in the Field of Mango Horticulture

The Philippines is known as a largely agricultural country, and Barba’s dedication to finding a solution to
help mango exports flourish benefited his home country. However, his road to success wasn’t
straightforward.

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 faced several rejections when he proposed applying the technique he developed to make mango
trees flower more frequently. Thanks to the help of Ramon Barba’s friends in Quimara Farms, Mr. and
Mrs. Jose Quimson, Ramon Barba conducted his experiment on 400 mango trees which were 10-12
years old spraying alternate tree branches with Etherel and potassium nitrate.

Lo and behold, the results from the simple experiment were astounding on the branches that had been
sprayed with the potassium nitrate solution. After combining a kilo of potassium nitrate with a hundred
liters of water and spraying it on the selected tree branches, the buds began forming a week later.

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.

Other Research

Barba developed a tissue culture procedure for the banana plant which enabled production of large
quantities of planting materials that were robust and disease-free.

He also developed a tissue culture procedure for sugar cane that allowed the rapid production of large
amounts of disease-free planting materials.
With his research team, Barba devised micro propagation protocols for more than 40 important species
of fruit crops, ornamental plants, plantation crops, aquarium plants, and forest trees.

The Positive Effects of Ramon Barba’s Efforts

Since the discovery of Ramon Barba’s method to induce flowering for mango plants, the mango industry
in the Philippines expanded. Apart from the mango producers themselves, other business sectors such
as the producers of the pest control chemicals, harvesters, sellers, and all the other smaller groups of
workers related to mango industry have benefitted from his invention. This technology has also been
successfully applied on other fruit trees including cashew.

In 2013 Ramon C. Barba was conferred the rank and title of 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.”

Barba was elected a member to the National Academy of Science and Technology, Philippines in 2004.

Barba was a recipient of the 1974 Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines in Agriculture Awards.
In 1974 and again in 1981, the Crop Science Society of the Philippines awarded him the Best Paper
Award.

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I have lived my entire life thinking that Agapito Flores, a fellow from the Philippines, is the first to invent
the fluorescent lamp. As my elementary teachers had taught me, the term ‘fluorescent’ came from its
inventor’s last name ‘Flores’, only inserted with a letter ‘u’. It was a fact without dispute in all science
textbooks in the Philippines because there was an easily believable correlation.

But it appears that the coining of the term is merely a coincidence. Filipino authors, or whoever made
the association, went too far with the Filipino pride – Agapito Flores is not the first person to create the
fluorescent lamp.
Agapito Flores was born in Guiguinto in the province of Bulacan, Philippines on September 28, 1897.
Early in his life, he has become an apprentice in a machine shop. He trained at a vocational school in
Tondo, Manila to become an electrician.

After tinkering with glass tubes, Flores was able to make them give off white light. This invention was
said to have reached then President Manuel L. Quezon, who was amazed by Flores’ ingenuity.

Reports claim that Agapito Flores had received a French patent for the fluorescent bulb through the
General Electric Company. It was believed that the company bought the patent rights and manufactured
the bulb under their name.

If by any case anything of that really happened, Agapito Flores does not deserve the credit of inventing
the fluorescent lamp. The history of the development of such lamps says that there are other inventors
who were far ahead of the Filipino electrician.

According to some historians, Agapito Flores was the inventor of the fluorescent light bulb; however, the
idea that this man, who hailed from the Philippines, created this amazing invention is hotly contested. In
fact, certain historians dispute the veracity of the claim and seek to debunk the story. In their eyes,
Flores has gone down in history for something that may not have actually been his own creation.
Scientists point to research and development leading to the new technology of fluorescent bulbs
-specifically, by French scientist Alexandre Becquerel... They feel that this research went on for years
before Flores arrived on the scene and grabbed a coveted patent for the new light bulb.

Basically, in scientific communities, Flores is not regarded as the inventor of fluorescence, which clearly
preceded the invention of a light bulb (using that scientific process). To unravel the mystery of Agapito
Flores and the fluorescent light bulb, let's examine some facts about this fascinating historical quandary:

Facts About Flourescence

• In the early 1900s, Heinrich Geissler found a way to generate a glow from gas inside of a tube - this
glow had a unique blue tinge. Geissler used an induction coil to create this chemical reaction.
• In 1893, a World's Fair was held in Chicago, Illinois, USA - at this event, famous scientist Nikola Tesla
unveiled his new fluorescent lights for lucky attendees.

• In the 1930s, Agapito Flores was believed to have sold a France-based patent for the fluorescent light
bulb to General Electric.

By examining the timeline listed above, we can clearly see that Flores was not the originator of the
fluorescent light bulb. However, he may have managed to secure a French patent that made it seem as
though he was the creator of this useful new light source. In truth, little proof of this claim to Flores'
fame really exists.

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Filipino Scientists

Juan Salcedo, JrDr. Juan Salcedo contributed immeasurably to the areas of biochemistry, nutrition, and
physiology as a scientist. He has published 265 works and studies in the Philippine and foreign science
journals. And as science administrator, he helps execute science policy improvement, science
endorsement and scientific manpower improvement.

Through the time of Pres. Quirino, Dr. Salcedo served as Secretary of Health. He served as Chairman of
the National Science Development Board (NSDB) (1963-1970) and Chairman of the National Research
Council of the Philippines (1961-1976).

He is a receiver of several honors including the Ramon Magsaysay award for outstanding public health
nutritionist in 1957; Republic Cultural Heritage award in science, 1966; and the Presidential Pro Patria
award, 1969.

Dr. Salcedo was elected as Academician in 1978 and conferred as National Scientist in the same year.
Countermeasures against Beriberi

“Beriberi is a disease brought by the deficiency of thiamine or vitamin B1 (“Beri-Beri”)”. It was

During the years 1882-1883, there was an outbreak of beriberi in the Philippines. No one was able to
pinpoint the main cause of the beriberi symptoms. “Around the early 1900s, a chemist named Dr. Robert
R. Williams entered the US Bureau of Science and researched the theory that beriberi was caused by a
nutritional deficiency (“Beri-Beri”).” He first isolated thiamine in 1933 and synthesized Vitamin B1, the
first vitamin in its pure form ever isolated, in 1936.

“In 1943, Dr. Williams met Dr. Juan S. Salcedo, Jr., who’s concerned with the elimination of beriberi in the
Philippines. Dr. Salcedo was the Secretary of Department of Health (DOH) from 1950 to 1953, and this
was the time when he implemented the “enriched rice experiment” which fortified the rice with Vitamin
B (Andaya, 2000).” This enriched rice became the staple food of those affected by beriberi in the
Philippines, thus, eliminating the problem.

Malaria and tuberculosis

Malaria is causes chills and fever. “This is caused by the Plasmodium parasite which is transmitted by
Anopheles mosquitos (Sarkar PK., et. Al., 2009).” On the other hand, “tuberculosis is a chronic and
contagious disease of the lungs caused by various strains of mycobacteria (Kumar V, et. Al., 2007).” Since
both of these diseases are known as killers and are both easily transmitted, Dr. Salcedo launched
relentless campaigns against them. “He mounted a nationwide Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG)
vaccination among children and systematized teams that would eradicate mosquitos especially in places
where Malaria incidents are high (Andaya, 2000).” Together with this, he provided preventive measures
to the people and established rural health center network that would bring services not only to urban
areas but also to remote and rural areas in the Philippines.

Nutrition
A lot of his works are focused on nutrition. From recommended daily for specific nutrients, progress of
nutrition in the Philippines, to vitamin intakes and deficiencies such as Vitamin A and B1, Dr. Salcedo has
written about it. He seemed to be focused on the nutrition intakes of the citizens as seen from the list of
his works, and this works of him have helped him to find a solution for the Beriberi outbreak in the
Philippines.

Born in Pasay City, Philippines, Dr. Salcedo earned his degrees from the University of the Philippines in
1929 and Columbia University in 1943. He was conferred the status of National Scientist in 1978. He
was widely known as an authority in nutrition and public health and a medical statesman.

Dr. Juan Salcedo conducted medical research to improve the health and nutrition of Filipinos. He spent
much of his lifetime studying health factors, ranging from fatty acids to vitamins. He has published more
than 200 articles on medicine, science, and technology, all of which noted the needs for proper
utilization of science, hand in hand with technology, in the process of shaping the nation not only on the
economic plane ut also from a social perspective.

He became president of the World Health Organization Assembly from 1952-1953, elected unopposed;
president of Araneta University Foundation from 1970-1981; and Professional and Head, Department of
Physiological Hygiene and Nutrition, College of Medicine, UP from 1954-1958. –Rea Hebron

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