Medals from international math and science competitions keep on pouring for the Philippines as the country’s contingent in the 52nd International Mathematical Olympiad reaped three bronze medals.
Henry Jefferson Morco of Chiang Kai Shek College and Vance Eldric Go and Carmela Antoinette Lao, both from St. Jude Catholic School, cornered three bronze medals, the highest medal haul of the Philippines since it joined the hardest mathematics competition in the world in 1988. The team is headed by Dr. Julius Basilla and Glen Mackenzie Ong from the Mathematical Society of the Philippines.
The most number of medals that the Philippines got was in 1991 when Wyant Chan, Wilbin Chan and Jose Ernie Lope, who headed this year’s Philippine Mathematical Olympiad, netted two bronze medals and one honorable mention.
The team’s medal sweep also improved the Philippines’ standing in the IMO, jacking it up to 54 from 74 last year out of 101 countries which joined the competition.
Morco, who was also part of last year’s Philippine team to the IMO, obtained the highest score among the team members at 20, while Go and Lao got 19 and 17, respectively. Morco ranked 171st, Go at 186 and Lao at 222nd from the total 564 participants.
Kenneth Co from the Philippine Science High School Main Campus mustered 12 points and ranked 321st but was not given the honorable mentioned certificate as the IMO requires that one must have a perfect score of seven on any one question.
This is the third time that Lao joined the IMO. She got a bronze medal in 2009 and a silver medal in 2010, making history as the first Filipina to achieve both awards.
It is Morco’s second IMO where he got an honorable mention in the 2010 competition in Germany.
The Philippine contingent was picked from the 12th PMO, organized by the Department of Science and Technology – Science Education Institute and the MSP.
The team was selected from over 3,851 aspiring high school students nationwide who participated in the Philippine Mathematical Olympiad (PMO). The top 20 finalists of the PMO were further winnowed down to five after undergoing rigorous training through the Mathematical Olympiad Science Camp (MOSC), a month long summer training program held at the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of the Philippines – Diliman.
Dr. Filma G. Brawner, Director of DOST-SEI, extended her congratulations to the Philippine team, taking note of the increasing medal haul of the Philippines.
“In our 23 years of participation in the IMO, we have gathered two silvers, 11 bronze medals and 13 honorable mentions. Our performance is improving as well and we are optimistic that we can get even better in the coming years,” she said.
Brawner avowed that DOST-SEI shall continue to provide support in competitions such as the IMO and PMO to bring forth talented students in science and mathematics and provide them the avenue to improve their skills and test it against students here and abroad.
“We shall continue to be on a lookout for young science and mathematics human resource that in the future will be part of our science community and bolster it with exemplar research and development,” she said. Beth Padilla, STII-DOST
