Baguio student tops national statistics quiz
(The Philippine STAR - December 4, 1999)
By NESTOR ETOLLE

Scoring a perfect 10 in the difficult question category, a male Baguio student topped this year's Philippine Statistics Quiz national finals of the National Statistics Office (NSO) held at the De La Salle University last Thursday.

Daryl Abiog, a 17-year-old BS Mathematics freshman at Saint Louis University in Baguio City, bested 14 other students from 15 regions in the country. He represented the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) in the finals.

Abiog, who scored 17 points, the highest among the finalists in the 20-question elimination round, breezed through easily in the 10-point difficult question category as he answered all questions correctly.

The 15 finalist were trimmed down to just eight for the championship after two elimination rounds.

"I don't consider my winning the finals as pure luck. It just happened that I was able to solve correctly all the 10 difficult questions", Abiog told The STAR.

For winning the national contest, Abiog received P20,000 cash and a trophy, while his coach, Estelita Calugay received P10,000. Saint Louis University also received a plaque of appreciation from the NSO.

The Philippine Statistics Quiz (PSQ), a brainchild of NSO Administrator Tomas Africa, is an annual contest in statistics among college freshmen.

It was launched in 1992 by the NSO and Philippine Statistical Association (PSA), in cooperation with the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the Statistical Research and Training Center (SRTC) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

The main objective of PSQ is to instill the value of statistics among students and win public cooperation in all government statistical activities such as censuses and surveys, and eventually generate quality data for national development planning.

The PSQ was also designed to measure the effectiveness of the current statistics curriculum in high school, as well as determine possible areas for improvement so that college entrants inclined to social sciences will develop more interest in statistical courses.

Other winners in this year's PSQ and their prizes were Macelino Uy of the National Capital Region, second place, P16,000; William Cheung of Region I, third place, P12,000; Carlo Jan Garingarao of Region 12, fourth place, P8,000; and Allen Michael Arendon of Region 6, fifth place, P4,000.

This year's board of judges was composed of Dr. Tito Mijares of the National Academy of Science and Technology, Dr. Amelia Biglete of The CHED, and Dr. Jose Ramon Albert of SRTC.