Pinoy teens bag int'l science, math awards for research

Three Filipino students recently received top honors in one of the world's largest and most prestigious high school science research competitions.

Touted as the world's largest high school research competition, the annual Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) attracts thousands of students from around the world. 

Carl Joshua Quines of the Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science bagged second place in the ISEF's Mathematics category for co-authoring the paper, "Bounds on metric dimension for families of planar graphs."

Meanwhile, Rubeliene Chezka Gloria, Nadine Antonette Obafial, and Myrelle Angela Colas of Davao City National High School bagged second place in the competition's Plant Sciences division for their study, "Insecticidal Activity of Acacia (Samanea saman) Bark Extract Against Adult Rice Black Bug (Scotinophora sp.)."

According to a post on the Department of Education's Facebook page, two other Filipinos represented the country in the competition: Maries Silvestre of Juan R. Liwag Memorial High School, Gapan; and Ricky Mercado of Nabuslot National High School.

Silvestre studied the effects of on coconut leaf extract on Alzheimer's disease, while Mercado investigated the recycling of agricultural wastes into wall insulation.

The string of honors is the latest for the country, which has seen several young Filipinos win in previous years.

Judel Jay Angela Tabsing bested hundreds of other competitors from around the world in 2013 when, as a 16-year-old teen, she presented research on a possible cure for Fusarium banana wilt.

And in 2009, Angeli Joyce Yap-Dy, Jovani Tomale, Kevin Jer David, and Orven Jules Dumaoang also won honors for their scientific work. — GMA News