This is I believe how skewed the priorities of the Philippines are. Over the weekend of Nov. 19, 2006. While the whole country stopped as they watched the "Pac-Man" beat Morales. Another group of young Filipinos brought victory to the country.
Who are these people you ask? I'm talking about Kim Marco Perez, 14, Dan Joseph Garcia, 13 and Gabriel Nunez, 13 with their coach Merlina Placino.
Never heard of them? It's funny, because I wouldn't have known about it until it got mentioned in by a reader on INQ7. And I had to dig deep into the website to find it on the website's "
The Good News" section.
What have they done to deserve praise? They just beat out 20 different countries including Japan, South Korea, Russia and Singapore in a competition we normally would not have thought the Philippines would be good at. They won the
2006 World Robot Olympiad in Nanning, China.
These students came from
First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities (Faith), a small educational institution in Tanauan City, Batangas. Their team topped the open category receiving a trophy and gold medals from the event organizers.
They designed a 2.25 metre cafe with 11 humanoid robot, it includes a receptionist, a bar attendant, a customer, security guard and a waiter. They even have a 3 piece robot band playing the piano, guitar and drums.
Another group of students from Grace Christian School also won one of seven special awards for "Best Team Spirit".
Sadly, there was no pictures. As it is only a minor article.
I don't know about you. But I think these students deserve more praise than what the "Pac-Man" is getting. Manny is getting a parade, a medal from Malacanang, a statue of him in Manila and all other endorsements for punching the lights out of another person.
Shouldn't these students be given more? I would think they deserve at the minimum a full scholarship to one of the top schools the country or any University of their choice. An endorsement deal is also good or at least some praise to show the Filipino people that we're not only good at our fist but also with our brains. That would probably remove the notion of other countries that we're a bunch of ignorant, backwards people who live in trees.
But then again, victories like these doesn't bring fame or fortune. It doesn't even gives politicians the media time they always crave.
To read the full story, follow this
link.
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