Math Olympiad competitors donate cash, relief goods

THEY did not only come to Manila to win medals.

Apparently touched by the suffering of the victims of supertyphoon Yolanda in Eastern Visayas, they brought with them relief goods intended for the disaster victims.

Dr. Simon Chua, president of the non-government Mathematics Trainers’ Guild-Philippines, was referring to an undisclosed number of young foreign mathematicians who competed in the recent 10th International Mathematics and Science Olympiad (IMSO), which the Philippines hosted last week.

Aside from the host country, 12 other nations took part in this year’s IMSO: Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, and Brunei Darussalam.

Chua, also head of the Philippine delegation, noted that “the contest participants, some of their trainers and other members of the various delegations chipped in a total of $7,800 (about P431,328) plus 53 boxes of assorted relief goods like rice, instant noodles, biscuits and fruit juices,” among others.

“Dr. Sun Wen-hsien, head of the Taiwanese delegation, and Dr. Edwin Loo Jin from Malaysia donated $5,000 and $1,000, respectively. The team from Thailand gave P90,000 cash,” he told the Inquirer.

According to Chua, “the cash and material donations were turned over to Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano, who in turn, will forward them to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.”

The Taguig City government and Inquirer.net were among the sponsors of this year’s IMSO.

In the contest, the Philippines won a total of 62 medals, 33 of them in the math category, which was topped by Thailand.

The country’s young math wizards placed second overall with three golds, courtesy of John Henry Marquez from the University of the Philippines Integrated School in Quezon City and Stefan Marcus Ong and Steven Reyes, both from St. Jude Catholic School in Manila.

The Thais bagged three golds more than their Filipino counterparts.

Singapore, Indonesia and Sri Lanka placed third, fourth and fifth, respectively in the same category.

Thailand also placed first in the Science category, followed by Singapore, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The teams from South Korea, Vietnam and Hong Kong failed to show up for still undisclosed reasons, said the IMSO local organizing committee.

It was the second time the Philippines hosted the annual competition. The first was in 2011 in Naga City.

Next year’s IMSO will be held in Bali, Indonesia. /INQUIRER