DR. EMILIO ERQUIZA BULATAO was a distinguished scientist and an indefatigable researchers. His obsession was in the field of Physiology where he dedicated his life intensely. In it he achieved greatness, although he preferred to remain obscure. His humility in refusing to seek honor and glory for himself was mistaken by his contemporaries as extreme shyness.

One of his most outstanding contributions to physiology was a result of his research work with Dr. Anton Julius Carlson. In 1923, he was sent abroad as a Fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation and a Special Fellow of the University of the Philippines. It was during this period of his life that he made a study on the relation of gastric hunger contractions and blood sugar, which was performed in Dr. Carlson’s laboratory in Chicago and is still being cited in standard textbooks in physiology today. As a Fellow, he also performed some experiments with Professor Walter Bradford, Cannon in Chicago, and Professor G. V. Anrep, in London.

Born in San Carlos, Pangasinan, on May 26, 1892, Emilio Bulatao was not destined to be a politician like his father Don Tomas – on time Mayor of San Carlos. His mother , Juana Erquiza, although a politician’s wife devoted her time solely to her family.

Dr Bulatao had an exemplary record throughout his scholastic training. His medical studies were pursued at the University of the Philippines where he obtained his M. I. degree in 11915, after having finished second time in a class of sixteen.

His enthusiasm brought him consistent advancement in whatever positions he held. Immediately after graduation, he was appointed Assistant Instructor in the Department of Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Physiology of the U.P. Medical School. His ingenuity served him well in Cuyo, Palawan, where as an Assistant Surgeon, he personally trained his assistants and attendants whom he had recruited from the local population.

In May, 1917, he returned to Pangasinan to marry his provincemate, Encarnacion Ungson. Together they went back to Cuyo. In October of the same year, he was promoted to Surgeon of the Philippine Health Service and transferred to the Butuan General Hospital as Resident Physician. Shortly after this promotion, Dr. Bulatao was made the District Health Officer of Agusan Province. Destiny however, had other plans for him. The U.P. College of Medicine wanted to have him back although he had occupied his new position for barely a year. As a result of this, on May 1919, he returned to manila to become Assistant Professor in Physiology. Teaching of this subject was to become his lifework for thirty-eight years. Dr. Bulatao was appointed full professor in January 11930, and on June 1940, he was made the seventh head of the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry – succeeding the late Professor Isabelo Concepcion. He occupied this position for seventeen years until his illness forced his retirement in January 1957.

Emilio Bulatao was extremely dedicated as a teacher. He imparted his ideas by force of an analytical mind which was at its best in tutorial conferences in his laboratory classes and in advisory consultations on research problems presented to him. A staunch believer of the philosophy of independent thinking, he developed in his students the correct technique of experimentation. His scholarly approach in the teaching of any subject is reflected in the professional competence of many of those who graduated from the U.P. college of Medicine scattered throughout the country.

The Far Eastern University College of Medicine and the then newly established College of Medicine of the University of the East – now known as the Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Foundation, offered a better paying post to Dr. Bulatao but his loyalty to the University of the Philippines made him stay in the state university.

As a physiologist, he believed in the correlation of the three basic disciplines – physiology, biochemistry and pathology – with clinical medicine.

Physiology was not his only obsession. Statistics and chess also fascinated him. In fact, he had as many books on chess as he had physiology texts. He was an avid chess player and it was extremely difficult to stop him from playing once he had started a game. His daughter, Josefina, recalls that the only way to discourage him from playing was to hide, unknown to him, a chess piece. She did frequently resort to this trick.

Dr. Bulatao was an accomplished statistician and mathematician. What makes this truly remarkable is the fact that he had no formal training in these advanced sciences except the elementary knowledge acquired as a high school student at the former Philippine Normal School. Proof of his mathematical ingenuity may be seen in the formula he advised for screening applicants to the U.P. College of medicine. This formula proved to be of great help in evaluating the grades of students who came from different universities without a common standard of grading. It is still being used even at present.

As a hobby, and as further evidence of his mathematical zeal, Emilio Bulatao used to engage in frequent discussion with able mathematicians.

During the War Years, the Medical School was kept open and Professor Bulatao stayed on. He suffered shrapnel injuries during the Battle of Manila. After the liberation of Manila, and with the transfer of governmental authority to the Commonwealth Government, he was again appointed Professor and Head of the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry in the University. With the opening of the Graduate School on May 3, 1948, he was appointed a professorial lecturer. He served his term until his 59^th birthday on May 26, 1951.

Dr. Bulatao’s scientific contributions death principally with the physiology of the circulation and studies on some physiological standards of Filipinos. The following are two samples of his numerous experiments:

1. "Blood Pressure Picture of the Filipinos" by Isabelo Concepcion and E. Bulatao:

"The main object of this experiment was to study the normal blood

pressure picture of the Filipinos of al years and of both sexes in order to establish a standard which is believed to be very valuable to clinicians and physicians connected with life insurance companies as a guide in their daily determination of blood pressure.

"Blood pressure readings were made on 697 males and 218 females, making a total of 915 cases. These observations with the exception of 78 cases, were made on Filipinos between the ages of 15 and 87 for males, and between 16 and 45 for females. Of 697 male subjects examined, 585 were convicts in Bilibid Prison and 117 were medical students, nurses, or instructors in the U.P. College of Medicine and surgery. Of 218 females, 128 were convicts and 0nly 90 were nurses and medical students.

2. "Studies in Olymic Athletes – Preliminary Report" Performed together with Drs. F.J. Salcedo, P. Sapinosa, J. Sta. Cruz, w. Pascual and M. Ocampo.

This experiment involved the study of athletes from Japan, China,

Results:

1. Swimmers as a group have the lowest pulse rate and the highest vital capacity.
2. The Japanese swimmers who made the best showing in the tank have comparatively higher red-cell count and vital capacity than their Philippine or Chinese counterparts.
3. Training and quartering show an apparent tendency to lower the pulse rate and blood pressure.
4. Many Filipino athletes from the province, on arriving showed red-cell counts below 5,000,000 but after a few weeks of quartering and training, their red-cell counts increased to 5,500,000 or more.
5. Training and quartering tend to diminish the degree of change in pulse rate and blood pressure ordinarily resulting from changes in position.
6. After completion, whether in a dash a middle distance run, hurdling, swimming short or long distances, the red-cell count increases by 300 to 400 percent, and the blood pressure, 60 to 70 per cent.
7. In one case, where the investigation was able to take a carotid pulse tracing, there was no irregularity in pulsation, as far as they could make out, after the athletes had run 400 meters over low hurdles.
8. They made detailed investigations into the athletic history of two of the Filipinos who were participating in the 10,000 – meter dash. It seems that the Philippines failure to produce good long-distance runners may be ascribed to lack of long, painstaking and systematic training coupled with the uncontrolled desire of the athletes themselves to shine or make good within a comparatively short period of experience and training.
9. In general, the study showed that results in men athletes are confirmed by similar findings in women.

An accomplished physiologist, Dr. Bulatao deserved every award and honor that was bestowed upon him. From 1923 – 1924 he was sent abroad as a Special Fellow of the U.P. and a Fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation where his scientific contributions to Physiology earned for him an honorary life-membership in the American Physiological society. It was also during this time that he gained membership to the Phi Kappa Phi and the Sigma XI Honor Societies. The Manila Medical Society and the National Research Council were two other important societies of which he was an active member. On July 8, 1951, he was honored with the Outstanding physiologist award of the Manila Medical Society in connection with its golden Jubille celebration. The U.P. Alumni Medical Society honored Emilio Bulatao as the Most Outstanding Alumnus in 1958. The Argentinian Government invited him to the International Congress of Physiology which was held in Buenos Aires on September 1959. His illness forced him to decline this invitation. During the U.P. Commencement Exercises in April 1961, he was honored with a Gold Medal of Merit and a Diploma of Honor as Distinguished Alumnus of the U.P. This was the last award he was ever to receive in his lifetime.

Among Dr. Bulatao’s scientific works are the following articles; Blood pressure of Filipinos; Influence of experimental changes in blood sugar on hunger contractions (in collaborations as senior author with Anton Julius Carlson, Professor of Physiology, University of Chicago); Effects of temporary anemia on tone of blood vessels; conditioning of activity of endocrine glands; pulmonary circulation and the heart; Studies an auriculo-ventricular conduction in the heart."

Although he was a dedicated scientist, Emilio Bulatao did not let his career interfere with his devotion to his family. His four children all grew up to be accomplished in their respective fields of endeavor; Josefina, a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the U.P. College of Medicine, is a Medical Nutrition Scientist at the Food and Nutrition Research Center; Rodolfo is a professor in the U.P. College of Engineering; Elisa is a Senior Statistician in the Bureau of Census; Jaime, the Jesuit priest, holds a Ph>D. in Clinical Psychology from Fordham University and is now the Director of Central Guidance and is also Head of the Ateneo de Manila Graduate School, Department of Psychology.

As a scientist, his work is highly commendable; as a teacher he was dedicated; and as a friend – he was warm hearted. But Emilio Bulatao possessed a distinguished trait that limited his circle of friends to a select few. He had an intense aversion to social gatherings. When he was recommended for the most distinguished alumni award of the U.P. in 1961, the members who submitted his name said of him:

Inspite of his retiring disposition, Emilio Bulatao was well-liked by his students and colleagues at the U.P. College of Medicine. Their loyalty to him was indeed sincere:

More money was received than was actually needed for my father’s fare.

During his stay abroad, after his son’s ordination, Dr. Bulatao had an opportunity to observe the latest methods of teaching Physiology and Biochemistry since he had been granted a six months sabbatical leave by the University of the Philippines. He reviewed recent advances in these subjects, particularly at Johns Hopkins University and in the medical schools of the City of New York. He, also made short observational visits to the medical schools of Harvard, Yale, Pennsylvania and Chicago.

In 1957, when illness forced him to retire from the work which he had loved so much, Dr. Bulatao found himself still deeply involved in Physiology. Even though bed ridden by the paralysis that was later to claim his life, he devoured every physiology journal that came to his notice.

Dr. Bulatao’s co-professors and former students at the U.P. College of Medicine, in summing up their impressions of him, gave a further insight of Emilio Bulatao – "The Scientist, the Professor, the Man, as follows:

Professor Bulatao did influence science in the Philippines in his own quiet almost shy way, but nonetheless effectively. The many students he encouraged to perform above mediocrity whom he inspired to dedicate their future in the fields of medical research speak highly of their mentor. Dr. Bulatao was among those selected few Filipino scientists who during the decades before the last war opened the trail of scientific research that was to be followed more aggressively after the Liberation. The trail he himself helped blaze with his own studies, valuable albeit limited, on physiology as affecting our own Filipino people. His fundamental work for instance on age-weight-growth relationships among Filipinos will continue to be studied by those who are concerned with promoting the nation’s health. And the prestige he culled for himself as a Filipino physiologist will no doubt continue to speak well of our potential to achieve excellence in this field of science, as long as we are goaded by the same patient, courage and deep thirst for knowledge as reflected in the many faces of Nature.

When Emilio Bulatao died on May 5, 1961, there were two books found by his bedside – one on Physiology, another on Statistics. They were symbols of his undying passion for two great sciences to which he dedicated his life. To this day his memory lives when once every year, the U.P. College of Medicine honors him with the Emilio Bulatao Lecture.

1. That branch of Biology dealing with the processes, activities, and phenomenon incidental to and characteristic of life or of living organisms.
2. For results on this experiment refer to: The American Journal of Physiology, 69 (June 1924), 107-114.
3. Studies on the condition of activity in the endocrine glands; The Role of the adrenal medulla in pseudo affective hyperglycemia" Ibid, 72 (April 1925).
4. Observations on the pulmonary circulation; pulmonary circulation in the heart-lung preparation". Journal of Physiology, 60 no. 3 (14 July 1925) no. 3.
5. In 1916 he transferred to the Philippine Health Service as Assistant Surgeon and assigned to Cuyo, Palawan, Proceedings of the College of Medicine, U.P. 2, no. 4 (July-August 1953), 174.
6. Ibid
7. Golden Book of the Philippine Medical Association, 1953, p. 275.
8. Personal Information: Dr. Josefina Bulatao – Jayme, daughter.
9. Loc. cit., article by Santiago V. Guzman, p. 176.
10. Personal Information: Dr. Josefina Jayme, daughter.
11. Op. cit., p.174.
12. Personal Information: Dr. Paulo Campos, former student of Dr. Bulatao and now Head of the Department of Medicine, U.P.
13. Personal Information: Dr. Jayme, daughter
14. On January 2, 1942, the Japanese Army occupied Manila, and on the following day the Japanese Military Administration was established in Manila. By proclamation of the Japanese High Command the Sovereignity of the United States was declared terminated until the Philippines was liberated by the U.S. Forces led by General Douglas MacArthur on January 9, 1945. Gregorio F. Zaide, Philippine Government, Manila, The Modern Book Company, 1955, pp. 102-111.
15. Loc. cit.
16. For a detailed account of this experiment consult Philippine Journal of Science, 2, no. 3, 1916, 135-148.
17. Journal Philippine Island Medical Association, 14, no. 8 (Aug. 1934).
18. Results of Studies on aurico-ventricular conduction in the heart are with Dr. Jesus Nolasco, Head of the Far Eastern University Guidance Center. Personal Information: Dr. Jayme , daughter.
19. Copy of the recommendation of Dr. Bulatao for the 1961 U.P. award of Most Distinguished Alumni for 1961 submitted to the Board of Directors, U.P. alumni Society, and signed by 14 members of the U.P. College of Medicine Alumni was furnished by Dr. Josefina Jayme, daughter.
20. He later wrote a moving article about this experience which has helped not a few parents decide favorably when confronted with their son’s permission to enter the priesthood.
21. Personal Information: Dr. Jayme, daughter.
22. In Memoriam" May 25, 1961. Copy furnished by Mr. Jose Teves of the National Research Council Office, Diliman, Quezon City.
23. By Honoria Acosta Sison, MD Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, U.P.; Loc. cit., p. 178.
24. By Saturnino Ador-Dionisio, M.D. Chief of Clinics, PGH Ibid. p. 177.
25. By Porfirio Recio, M.D. Managing Editor Acta Medica Filipina, Ibid.
26. The first Emilio Bulatao Lecture in Physiology was held on October 6, 1961. The lecturer was Dr. Howard A. Matzke, Professor of Anatomy at Kansas University Medical School. The topic of the lecture was, The application of experimental comparative neuro-anatomy to the understanding of the human nervous system. The second memorial lecture was held on March 9, 1963. The guest, John Raymond Brobeck, Professor of Physiology and Chairman of the Department at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, lectured on "The Study of Physiological Regulations."

1. Study on the Relation of Gastric Hunger Contractions and Blood Sugar" published in the American Journal, 69 (June, 1924) p. 107-114.
2. Studies on the conditions of Activity n the Endocrine Glands; te role of the Adrenal Medulla in Pseudo affective Hyperglycemio, published in the American Journal of Physiology, 72 April 1925.
3. Observations on the Pulmonary circulation; Pulmonary Circulation in the Heart-Lung Preparation, published in the Journal of Physiology 60 no. 3 (14 July 1925) no. 3.
4. Blood Pressure Picture of the Filipinos, by Isabelo Concepcion and E. Bulatao published in Philippine Journal of Science, 2, no. 3, 1916, pp. 135-148.
5. Studies in Olympic Athletes – Preliminary Report" published in Journal Philippine Island Medical Association, 14, no. 8, Aug. 1934.

1. In Memoriam, May 25, 11961.
2. Golden Book of the Philippine Medical Association, 1953, p. 275.
3. Philippine Journal of Science, 2, no. 3, 1916 pp. 135-148.
4. Proceedings of the College of Medicine, U.P. 2, no. 4, (July-August 11953 174 pp.
5. Gregorio F. Zaide, Philippine Government, 1955, Manila pp. 102-111.

Personal Information furnished by:

Dr. Josefina Bulatao-Jayme, daughter