Sorsogon State College

Sorsogon City
Engineering-Architecture Department

NAME: Sean Andrew B. Grutas SUBJECT: Science, Technology and Society

COURSE: BS Architecture 2

A C T I V I T Y : Think About These Questions

1. Identify several issues in the Philippines. What science and technology policies could be
developed and implemented to solve these issues?

Some of the issues that we are facing are: an ever-growing population ( 100+ million and still counting),
lack of access to safe drinking water in rural areas, lack of sanitary facilities in far-flung communities,
lack of hospitals in the rural areas, lack of farm to market roads, scarcity in agricultural production, the
growth of informal settlers in big cities, traffic congestion, constant exposure to storms and natural
disasters, an inefficient public transportation system, air and water pollution, destruction of forests
because of illegal timber production, smuggling of forest products and rare animal species and a lot
more issues. But the greatest issue plaguing our nation is the incompetence and corruption of
government officials.

These are some of the issues that could be solved with the utilization of modern technology.

• More access to contraceptives. The Philippines is still a “ conservative” Catholic country. The use of
contraceptives are highly discouraged. I believe a reform in our curriculum regarding sex education and
responsible parenthood should be revised and heavily explained in our school curriculum. Couples
should be given wider access to contraceptives to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Those who are poor and
illiterate should be taught by government health workers regarding this matter through public forums
and seminars. It should be mandatory.

• Water filtration systems should be distributed in the provinces. It should be implemented by the
government to ensure the health and well-being of the Filipinos living in rural areas, where the supply of
safe drinking water is scarce. They should dig deep wells with filtering capabilities for the citizens. The
Department of Science and Technology is currently developing a cost-effective water filtration system
using ceramic and clay in the process. I hope it will be carried out to the needy citizens upon its release
and development.

• Portable toilets should be created in the far-flung provinces. It’s no longer a big problem as it is in
the past, since 85–90% of our population have access to toilets. Sanitary facilities should be made
priority to those residing near river and sea ecosystems to avoid contamination and harm of marine
species.
• Hospitals and health clinics should be built by our government, each town or city should have at
least one.

• Farm to market roads should be built in many communities, so that farmers would have a bigger
chance of increasing their income by cutting the agricultural supply chain that the abusive middlemen
exploit and take advantage of.

• Farming should be MECHANIZED, to increase the agricultural output of farms and to give farmers
the chance to have the time in different activities while the machinery takes care of all the hard manual
work under the heat of the sun.

• Vertical housing should be provided to poor residents in big cities, so that they won’t end up being
squatters in government and private-owned land. The residential units can be sold in an affordable price
with reasonable monthly rates that the poor working class can afford.

• Many roads should be opened and constructed. This is to avoid the traffic congestion that makes the
life of urban Filipinos miserable. There are a lot of elevated and elliptical roads that can be constructed
above the traditional highways to provide vehicles with many options on where are they going to pass-
by.

• An efficient, disaster response system should be created. This is imperative if the Philippines is
really aiming for zero casualties during calamities, owing the fact that our archipelago are frequented by
earthquakes, storms, tidal surge, volcanic eruptions and many similar disasters. Highly mobile disaster
vehicles such as amphibious vehicles and ambulances should be deployed in every town, city and
municipality.

• Our railroads should be revived. Especially, the Ferrocaril de Manila, a traditional commuter railway
that runs from Dagupan City in Pangasinan in the north, down to Manila in the National Capital Region
and down to Legazpi Albay in the south. It is the most common form of transportation during the
American period, and according to the older population, it’s fast and cost-effective. Sadly, the said
commuter rail was destroyed during the Second World War and was never rehabilitated. Today, only a
portion of the railway from Tutuban, Manila to Calamba, Laguna is currently in use. The rest had been
defunct in the past few decades.

Another thing is that we should bring back the double-decker buses. This is a great way of relieving
commuters of the horrible “ standing ovation” situation in commuter buses everyday.

Fast-craft Ferry services should be widely available. This is also a great way of relieving the traffic
situation that we have on land, by utilizing the open sea as another highway for commuters. It’s actually
much faster than traveling on land. An estimated 4 hours would be needed to travel from Manila to
Subic, Zambales through land. By sea, the travel time would be cut to 1 1/2 hours of the same
destination.

With proper technology, navigable river highways can be created to decongest Manila, like the Manila
Bay-Pasig River-Marikina River- Laguna de Bay waterway that will connect Metro Manila eastward to
Rizal and Laguna provinces, or the Manila Bay-Angat River-Pampanga River-Peñaranda River-Tarlac
River-Agno River mega waterway, that could potentially connect Manila to the northern provinces of
Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Pangasinan and Tarlac with the province of Benguet as its extreme
northernmost passenger port.

• Renewable clean energy should be preferred over traditional ones. The Philippines have vast
potential for its renewable energy, because it is abundant in natural resources and is located in a region
with favorable climatic conditions. We have vast potential in harnessing our resources for biomass,
geothermal, hydropower, solar and wind production and making it as a sustainable source of energy,
reducing the reliance on coal, petroleum and other non-renewable sources.

As for the problem with our garbage disposal, we can create garbage liquification and gasification
facilities to convert our filth into a usable energy source. Many recyclable trash should also be
distributed in recycling facilities to avoid being stuck in landfills.

• Degraded and denuded lands should be reforested again. We should plant more trees to preserve
the ecological balance of our country and prevent our animal and plant species from becoming extinct.
We should plant the right species of trees, and we should prefer native ones ( Apitong, Ipil, Kamagong,
Lauan, Narra, Yakal, etc) more than foreign ones to preserve our tree species once found in our primeval
forests.

Our coastal areas should be planted with mangroves to increase the vitality of our marine ecosystems
and increase the food production of our fishermen. Mangroves also serve as natural barriers against
water-borne disasters, such as tidal surges, whirlpools and other similar phenomena.

2. What can you say about the implementation of some science and technology policies and
projects in the country?

The present government is embarking on a number of science and technology projects and here are some
of them;

 Subways - EDSA from Balintawak to NAIA and Guadalupe to Ayala.

 Asian Institute of Management and other schools are offering Data Management and
Artificial Intelligence Applications
 DICT and DOST is studying the use of 5G to speed up internet connectivity and ease traffic
for instance.
 DOST is initiating a Space Agency implementing rules and regulations. Soon there will be
programs associated with the use of space for science and technology.
 The Office of the President is supporting efforts by DOST to train more scientist and
improve its facilities.
 There are also acquired technology in the newly purchased frigates in the use of Combat
Management System. There will be various training of navy personnel handling such new
technology.
 There are current new technologies being implemented in the agriculture sector. High
yielding fruits and crops are being pursued such as F1 hybrid seeds. There are new intelligent
farming equipment to increase the field productivity such as WR-801 Multi-function Hand
Tractor.
There are more especially in the field of medicines, electronics, chemical, energy and construction
industries. But it would be best to make a thorough research on the family dynasties here that control many
things in the country, and the political climate we have. Just so you could weigh your options what could
be introduced here, to improve the country.

3. What are the laws related to science and technology in the Philippines from the year 2000?

o Intellectual Property Act

o Philippine National Health Research System Law

o Magna Carta of Science Worker

o Data Privacy Law

o Republic Act No. 10175 - AN ACT DEFINING CYBERCRIME, PROVIDING FOR THE
PREVENTION, INVESTIGATION, SUPPRESSION AND THE IMPOSITION OF PENALTIES
THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

o The unified space agency is defined by the "Philippine Space Act" (Republic Act No. 11363)
which was signed into law on 8 August 2019,[1] intended to manage and operate the Philippine
government's space program which was decentralized and handled by various agencies of the
Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

o Republic Act No. 10844, otherwise known as the “Department of Information and
Communications Technology Act of 2015”, which was signed into law on 23 May 2016. In
accordance to the law, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT)
shall be the primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing, and administrative entity of the
Executive Branch of the government that will plan, develop, and promote the national ICT
development agenda.

4. How are these laws implemented?

All these policies, plans and frameworks have been developed often by the same scientists,
technologists, administrators and development planners. They have very correctly identified the research
and development directions important for the country. Therefore as expected there are many more
similarities than differences in these documents, which have even indicated the general directions and
specific interventions as well as research projects the researchers should consider when deciding on what
areas they should work in if the work is to benefit the country.

Even with such relevant well-thought-out plans, interventions and projects that have been
identified, their implementation has not proceeded satisfactorily. Therefore the answer to the question as
to why the implementation of these plans have been problematic over the years must be given very serious
thought by all stakeholders, in particular the scientists, technologists, administrators, development
planners and of course the politicians in charge. The answers should be found sooner than later if S&T is
to contribute to the development of the country.

Aside from the support coming from the Philippine Government by building institutions, creating
platforms like establishing different science scholarships and courses, researching is the best way to
identify solutions on the problem. The research scientists and technologists have to play an all important
role by deciding and conducting the type of research aligned with the government’s development agenda.
This is not to say that researchers should not conduct studies that adds to the knowledge base of the country
and the world. Scientists and Technologists, however, should bear in mind and work towards the
enhancement of a knowledge economy relevant to our country.