BESTING 110 teams from the region, a public secondary school in Muntinlupa won the grand prize for the Urban Agriculture category in the Southeast Asia Creative Camp (SEA-CC) 2018, a technical and vocational education and training mainstreaming research competition.
With its entry, entitled “Comprehensive Algae Microfarm Project,” Muntinlupa National High School (MNHS) triumphed over its competitors not only from the Philippines but also other academic institutions in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
Behind the winning research project were student-researchers Charles Godwin Rodriguez, Miguel Bautista, Johanna Caroline Banutan, Marie Collado and Vivian Montanez; and research advisers Jason Albaro and Ma. Regaele A. Olarte.
“After a series of Webex sessions, proposal-writing, online presentation, and defense, glory to God over and over again for He has blessed the work of our hands. It’s all by His grace,” Olarte wrote on a Facebook post.
Olarte was the top awardee in Fortune Life Care’s Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua “Gintong Parangal para sa Edukasyon—Guro” and one of Metrobank Foundation’s Most Outstanding Teachers in 2016.
Other successful searchers in the category were entries from SMK Mitra Industri MM2100 “Utilization of Grow Light Technology in Seeds Sowing Process for Hydroponic Production” as second place and SMP SAIM-Codename “IMPROVE” as third place—both from Indonesia.
Each of the three winners will receive monetary prizes, a token of appreciation, certificate and a special invitation to join the SEA-CC 2018 at Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia on May 6 to May 12.
MNHS’s stint in SEA-CC 2018 was the school’s second feat in international research competitions this year, proving that lack of resources is not a hindrance but a motivation to position themselves into greater heights.
In January a research team from MNHS led by advisers Olarte and Albaro, with school principal Dr. Florante Marmeto representing the country at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2018.
They emerged as one of the finalists in the Global High School Category–Asia of the 10th Zayed Future Energy Prize participated by 112 countries worldwide.
Zayed Future Energy Prize is a global search for renewable-energy and sustainability innovations in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Mayor Jaime Fresnedi lauded the research team of MNHS and vowed to continue support in their academic endeavors.
The local government of Muntinlupa, under Fresnedi’s leadership, gives importance and invests in the education of the residents through scholarship programs, educational assistance and other projects.
MNHS’s recent success is expected to serve as an inspiration for other Muntinlupeños to also explore research work on RE and sustainability.
Using solar-powered photobioreactors, their breakthrough study is timely and relevant as the country relies more on imported fuel, thus making the cost of electricity here one of the highest in Asia.
But with the government’s Philippine Development Plan for 2017 until 2022 now in place, RE is gaining ground.
Clean and renewable-energy sources like geothermal, hydro, wind, biomass and solar energy are among the country’s few competitive advantages, since it has no significant deposits of fossil fuels.
Renewables now account for just 30 percent of the country’s energy mix. The government-led National Renewable Energy Plan is aimed at tripling RE capacity to 15,304 megawatts by 2030.
