2011/06/19

Made in the Philippines

A genius and a polymath, Jose Rizal is known for being a scientist. Back in the days when computer and internet were not a thing yet, the national hero of the Philippines was able to exhibit his creativity through science. Through the years, several Filipino scientists continued the legacy shown by Rizal. Various inventions were added to the scientific world. In 1995, for example, Edgardo Vazquez won a gold medal in the prestigious World Intellectual Property Organization. Vasquez developed a modular housing system called Vazbuilt, which can quickly construct a house within weeks with prefabricated materials that can survive calamities.

From the kundiman during the time of Jose Rizal to the pop songs of Charice, the love for music among Filipinos cannot be denied. Even in the invention industry, this Filipino passion for music is evident. Filipino inventor, Roberto del Rosario, is claiming the right for the invention of the Sing-Along-System, which eventually was instrumental to the Karaoke development. However, Karaoke is known to be fully made by Japanese. But aside from the Sing-Along-System, del Rosario also invented the piano keyboard stressing device, the voice color tape, the piano tuner's guide, Trebel Voice Color Code (VCC), and the one-man-band (OMB).

Women are first to influence the consciousness of man, as Jose Rizal wrote to the women of Malolos, even in the field of science. The first Asian to have entered the prestigious Harvard University's School of Medicine is a Filipina in the person of Fe del Mundo. Her greatest contribution to science was her invention of incubator and jaundice relieving device. Aside from Fe del Mundo, there are other Filipina scientists who made great contributions in science. These include Magdalena Cantoria, a noted Filipino botanist, Lourdes Cruz for developing conotoxins, Emerita De Guzman for her makapuno research, and Carmen Intengan, a food and nutrition researcher.

From the inventions of Jose Rizal to the ingenuity of the Filipino inventors who came after him, the Filipino brainchild can even reach the moon. That literally took place when Mapua Institute of Technology graduate Eduardo San Juan took part in the invention of the Moon Buggy, the car Neil Armstrong and other astronauts used in 1960 to explore the moon for the first time. As we commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of our national hero this 2011, let us also celebrate the Filipino ingenuity in a five-day bazaar called Rizal's Pride, which will be attended by participating companies to showcase local products of Laguna and Rizal.

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