Math Wizzards in Bulgaria

Filipino students dominate Mathematics Without Borders tournament in Bulgaria



Merlina Hernando-Malipot 
Manila Bulletin
04 July 2019


A team composed of Filipino learners dominated an international Math tournament held in Bulgaria participated by over 1,000 students from 14 countries including the Philippines.

(AMSLI Philippines)

The Asian MathSci League, Inc. (AMSLI), in a statement, announced that “it was such a remarkable finish” for the eight Pinoy wiz-kids who traveled thousands of miles from Manila to be able to join the Mathematics Without Borders (MWB) Tournament Finals held at Nessebar, Bulgaria from June 28 to July 1, 2019.

The team dominated the awards in the final event of the tournament participated by 1,192 students from Azerbaijan , Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan , Kazakhstan , Iran, Malta, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and the Philippines. The delegation was led by DOST-SEI Deputy Director Engr. Albert Mariño and the officials of the AMSLI, Rechilda Villame and Dennis Dimaala.

The awards garnered by the Philippine Team dubbed as “Magic 8” are as follows: Zion Skye Earl Carmelo Uy, Ateneo de Manila Grade School (Age Group 2) – Gold Medal (Individual Contest), Gold Medal (Team Contest) and MWB Silver Cup; Rohan Gerald Herrera, Ateneo de Manila Grade School (Age Group 2) – Gold Medal (Individual Contest), Gold Medal (Team Contest), and MWB Bronze Cup; Harry Gerald Perez, De La Salle Lipa Integrated School (Age Group 2) – Gold Medal (Team Contest), Bronze Medal (Individual Contest), and MWB Bronze Cup; Renzterton Sibal, Lourdes School of Mandaluyong (Age Group 5) – Gold Medal (Individual Contest), Silver Medal (Team Contest), and MWB Gold Cup; Christian Gendrano, De La Salle Zobel School (Age Group 6) – Absolute Winner of the Tournament, Math Star of the Tournament, Gold Medal (Individual Contest), Bronze Medal (Team Contest), and MWB Gold Cup; Mi Jung Pak, Philippine Science High School (Age Group 7) – Gold Medal (Team Contest), Bronzed Medal (Individual Contest), and MWB Gold Cup; Beatriz Lucia Rodriguez, Southville International School and Colleges (Age Group 7) – Gold Medal (Team Contest), Silver Medal (Individual Contest), and MWB Silver Cup; and John Henry Marquez, Philippine Science High School (Age Group 9) – Gold Medal (Individual Contest), Gold Medal (Team Contest), and MWB Gold Cup.

In the Individual and Team Awards, AMSLI explained that the top 20% of the total number of the finalists from each age group receive gold, silver and bronze medals. “The ranking is carried out according to the number of solved problems or points earned,” AMSLI said. “In the case of an equal number of solved problems, the higher ranked participant/team is the one that has spent less time solving the problems,” it added.

Meanwhile, AMSLI explained that the ranking for the MWB Cups is “determined based on the sum of the two best results of the three remote rounds (Autumn,Winter and Spring Rounds) and the doubled result of the final competition.” Given this, the “three most successful students from each age group and country are included in the ranking for the Tournament Cups”

“The participants who hold first place in each age group receives the Mathematics without Borders Golden Cup, those who hold second place receives the Mathematics without Borders Silver Cup and those who hold third place receives the Mathematics without Borders Bronze Cup,” AMSLI said.

The “Math Star of the Tournament,” on the other hand, is among the “special prizes and the title Math Star of the Tournament is received by each country’s most successful contestant.” The “Absolute Winner of the Tournament” is given by the Mayor of Nessebar who is also a patron of the tournament. The award is given to the “most successful contestant and the teacher with the biggest contribution to the tournament.”

AMSLI identifies itself a non-stock non-profit organization of “math and science enthusiasts” registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since April, 2017. Among the objectives of AMSLI is to “establish a world class academic organization aimed to develop and improve mathematics and science skills of Filipino teachers and students through mentoring, scholarships and various activities connected” and “inculcate, promote, foster and develop interest and awareness among the Filipino teachers and students about international math and science activities such as competitions, educational programs, enrichment workshops, conferences, courses and training programs, exhibits and seminars and other related events.”

The organization also aims to “promote math and science competitions here in the Philippines and/or outside the country and develop and educate an understanding of global competitiveness”; to “recognize and award outstanding students in mathematics and/or science”; and to “promote and encourage organized research and to disseminate the useful results of such research.”

Given the remarkable feat of the Filipino learners in the recent MWB tournament, Villame – who also serves as the AMSLI President and Philippine Team Leader – received the Mayor of Nessebar’s Teacher Award. Meanwhile, Dimaala – who served as Deputy Team Leader – received the MWB Organization’s Teacher Award.

World's Happiness progress

Philippines is 12th in happiness progress

Mar Mangahas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
30 march 2019

The World Happiness Report 2019 (WHR), released last week, ranks the Philippines as No. 12 in the world—and new No. 1 in Southeast Asia—in change in life-evaluation between 2005-08 and 2016-18 (http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2019/).

Note that the period is a full decade, spanning most of the Arroyo period, all six years under Noynoy Aquino and the first two years under Duterte.  The beginning and ending numbers being compared are three-year averages.  Credit for the progress between the two points therefore goes mainly to the Aquino time and partially to the Duterte time.

Chapter 2 of WHR2019 is “Changing World Happiness”; I heartily agree that it is more valuable to examine time-trends than to engage in Miss Happiness contests.  Its measure is scaled from the worst possible life (zero) to the best possible life (10) that the people surveyed can imagine. 

This is Cantril’s ladder, after psychologist Hadley Cantril, who wrote “The Pattern of Human Concerns” (1965).  (Interestingly, the ladder allows computation of “inequality of happiness”—which is high in the Philippines—but that’s a topic for another piece.)

The progressives. The five top gainers in WHR2019 are: 1. Benin +1.34, 2. Nicaragua +1.26, 3. Bulgaria +1.17, 4. Latvia +1.16, and 5. Togo +1.08.  Between them and 12th place Philippines (+0.86) are 6. Congo (Brazzaville), 7. Sierra Leone, 8. Slovakia, 9. Ecuador, 10. Uzbekistan, and 11. Cameroon.

This list shows that low-status countries are capable of progress in happiness.  It is refreshing to stop touting Finland, Denmark and Norway as the “winners,” since, after all, they reached their current high status in happiness only after many decades of social development.

The backsliders. At the opposite end are the worst five losers: 132. Venezuela -1.94, 131. Syria -1.86, 130. Botswana -1.61, 129. India -1.14, and 128. Yemen -1.10.

Gaining or losing at least 1.0 in the Cantril ladder, over a decade, is quite significant. The rest of the worst 10 are: 127. Central African Republic, 126. Greece, 125. Tanzania, 124. Malawi, and 123. Rwanda.

Other notable losers are Spain, Italy, United States, France, Japan and Canada.  Thus, high-status countries are not immune to backsliding either.  Of the 132 countries with data for starting and ending periods, 64 gained, 42 lost, and 26 stayed put.

The Philippines’ three-year average ladder score improved by +0.86 from 2005-08, to reach 5.63 in 2016-18.  Other Southeast Asian gainers were Cambodia +0.64 (25th in the world); Indonesia +0.24 (57th); and Thailand +0.23 (59th).

On the other hand, Vietnam -0.22 (96th), Laos -0.36 (107th), Singapore -0.35 (109th) and Malaysia -0.70 (117th) all lost ground.  In our region, half rose and half fell.

Change in regional climbing leadership. In last year’s WHR2018, which considered changes from 2008-10 to 2015-17, it was Malaysia, at +0.73, that led the gainers in Southeast Asia, followed by the Philippines +0.72, Thailand +0.30, and Cambodia +0.19.

The losers at that point were Indonesia -0.16, Singapore -0.16, Vietnam -0.26, and Laos -0.42 (see “Track happiness over time, not space,” Opinion, 3/24/18).  Now, Indonesia is a progressive, and Malaysia is a backslider.

Change in ranking of status after climbing. Both WHR2018 and WHR2019 have ladder scores for 156 countries.  

A country’s ranking on the world ladder depends on its relative (not absolute) climbing performance. The Philippines rose in status from No. 71 in WHR2018 to No. 69 in WHR2019.

Singapore maintained its No. 34 status. Thailand fell from No. 46 to No. 52.  Malaysia plummeted from No. 35 to No. 80 and was overtaken by the Philippines.  

Indonesia rose from No. 96 to No. 92, Vietnam from No. 95 to No. 94, Laos from No. 110 to No. 105, and Cambodia from No. 120 to No. 109.