MANILA, Philippines—Despite the lack of major long-term interests on the country’s scientific community, many young Filipinos are still hopeful that science will play a key role in improving the country’s economy.
Still in their teens, four students who scored awards in the recent Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) said young people such as them should look to science and engineering and be part of the country’s development.
Angeli Joyce Yap-Dy, Jovani Tomale, Kevin Jer David and Orven Jules Dumaoang won in the recent Intel ISEF in Nevada, USA. Yap-Dy and Tomale were second place awardees for the Special Award division while David and Dumaoang won the higher Grand Award division.
The four joined the ranks of over a dozen other Filipinos winners of previous Intel ISEF competitions in the last 12 years.
The anti-bacterial 'bangus'
Yap-Dy is a second year student from the Capiz National High School. Only 14 years old, Yap-Dy said that students must build an interest on science not just for one’s own interest but for that interest to be shared to others.
Yap-Dy’s entry in the ISEF is a study on the possible utilization of certain compounds from the bile of milkfish, locally known as “bangus,” for medicines against cancer, specifically lung and colon, as well as for antibacterial use.
This project landed Yap-Dy a second special award from the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.
Yap-Dy said her interest on the project stemmed from what she had known about cancer, which she said is a global killer disease. The milkfish project itself was started by another student who was also a previous ISEF winner.
“I wanted to continue this project because it holds so much promise and since milkfish is familiar to us,” Yap-Dy said.
Gender sensitive math
Meanwhile, Tomale, a graduate of the Davao City National High School also won a second place Special Award given by the American Statistical Association. His project centers on creating a mathematical model to determine the gender of the country’s endangered Philippine eagle.
Tomale said he had worked with Davao’s Philippine Eagle Foundation to create the mathematical model, which should give the foundation some better understanding on how to breed captive Philippine eagles.
“I’ve already given the mathematical model for free. I want to be part in ensuring the survival of these birds,” Tomale said.
The 16-year-old Tomale is already an incoming freshman of the Ateneo De Davao University and said he hopes to publish his work in the US-based statistics magazine Chance.
Biotech geniuses
David and Dumaoang, both from the Philippine Science High School in Quezon City, also worked on creating an antibacterial compound, just like Yap-Dy’s milkfish bile. But instead of creating a compound that killed bacteria, David and Dumaoang went further and targeted the bacteria’s ability to communicate.
“Bacteria have the ability to group together, which makes them stronger. By inducing a quorum sensing inhibitor compound to confuse them, they are unable to communicate and thus organize an attack,” David said.
Dumaoang noted that the compounds they tested are from local red seaweed (Halymenia durvillaei), which is also a familiar type of edible nori.
Dumaoang and David stressed that many types of bacteria have become resistant and have rendered many commercially available antibacterial medicines useless.
Instead of killing bacteria with chemicals, targeting their communication is a key aspect in preventing their spread and attack on other living organisms.
Both students, who are gunning for a medical course in the University of the Philippines, said that they hope other students could continue their project and perhaps branch out to other similar areas.
Young inspirations
Department of Education Undersecretary Vilma Labrador said that despite the tough challenges faced by Filipino students in elementary and high school, they are still able to develop skills at par with their foreign counterparts, as proven by the four students’ victory at ISEF 2009.
“They showed that they are able to accomplish their goals even without the proper tools. They should inspire our children to also focus on science,” Labrador said.
She said that the DepEd is already implementing a new project to create special science schools at the elementary level. She said these science schools should serve as “feeder” institutions for high schools.
Currently, the Department of Science and Technology manages all of the science high schools in the country.
Intel Philippines Corporate Affairs Manager Arlita Narag said in a interview that Intel is working on building a database of all the previous ISEF winners from the Philippines. The database should provide information on the continuation of some of the projects on a commercial level.
“Some of the projects went on to become real projects. One example was the janitor fish project in 2006 and is being implemented by the city of Marikina,” Narag said.
She is referring to a project by 2006 ISEF winner Raymond Joseph Amurao whose project was to create an alternative biofuel source from the oily Hypostomus plecostomus, otherwise known as janitor fish.
Narag said that they are also working with the Philippine Intellectual Property Office to help ISEF participants patent their projects, which could be further developed into commercially viable projects.
“One of the contentions is to have scientific projects become income-generating activities. With so many projects thought of by our young people, we could create an industry that the Philippine economy can benefit from and be a source of pride,” Narag said.
