Carmela Antoinette S. Lao of St. Jude Catholic School made history last year for being the first Filipina to win a bronze medal at the 50th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). This year, she makes history again as she grabs the country’s 2nd silver medal at the IMO after a drought of 21 years.

Delegation to the IMO team leader Dr. Ian June Garces of the Mathematical Society of the Philippines (MSP) said Lao got a total score of 21 points which earned her a silver medal in the most prestigious mathematics contest in the world. Lao’s teammates, Henry Jefferson Morco of Chiang Kai Shek College and Zheng Rong Wu of Zamboanga Chong Hua High School, got honorable mentions.

The individual wins places the country above other nations with six students joining the IMO and is the best Philippine performance in the IMO to date. The Philippines ranks 74 in the online published ranking of countries joining the IMO, an improvement from last year’s 78.

Garces, an associate professor of mathematics at the Ateneo de Manila University, led the winning team together with Glen Mackenzie S. Ong, a math enthusiast and former Philippine contestant to the IMO, its deputy team leader.

The Philippine participation in the IMO and the MOSC were under the auspices of the Science Education Institute (SEI) and MSP, headed by Dr. Fidel R. Nemenzo. Garces and Ong were ably assisted in the MOSC by Alva Benedict C. Balbuena of UP-Diliman, Rey A. Barcelon of Misys International Banking System, Dr. Job Nable, and Winfer Tabares of Ateneo.