With 18 schools and 22 student organisations in attendance, the Annual ORSP National Student Congress was held on March 11, 2017 at the Teresa Yuchengco Auditorium in De La Salle University – Manila. The Operations Research Society Student Federation held its 11th Annual National Student Congress, with the Industrial Management Engineering Society (IMES-DLSU) as the host organizer.
The Congress theme of Operations Research in Public Governance was tackled very well by three well-known public figures. First speaker was Crispian Lao, currently Vice Chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Commission under the office of the President, Republic of the Philippines. His topic covered the applications of OR in Solid Waste Management. The second guest speaker was the Department of Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato de la Peña, who discussed the applications of OR in the public sector. In the afternoon, the third guest speaker Senator Sherwin Gatchalian talked about Public Governance and Education.
These three plenary talks were followed by simultaneous competitions: the annual case study and the traditional quiz bee. Light moments were provided by DLSU entertainments groups Inner Soul and Lola Amore as we’ll as handing out raffle prizes. Participants had the opportunity to take their pictures with the Congress logo in the background. Capping the event was the awarding ceremonies.
Winners of the case study competition were: First place, University of the Philippines – Diliman; Second Place: De La Salle University – Manila, and in third is the team from: Mapua Institute of Technology. UP Diliman team was made up of: Majella Cayley Domingo, Ray Justin Huang, Alejandro Renzo Lim and Wendell Millan, DLSU team members were: Samuel Chen, Christine Fernandez, Karl Ong and Angelia Trinidad while Mapua was represented by: Jean Patrice Leano, Joseph Mirabueno, Marco Malabrigo and Louis Michael Surabia. The highly-contested quiz bee competition was won by: University of the Philippines – Diliman, Quirby Alberto, Ralston Espiritu, Sonny Guanzon and Vann Maligaya Johntee Tantuco, De La Salle University – Manila, Siegfried Barrios, Carlos Ilagan, Ian Ilagan, Jayne San Juan and Kimberly Tee and University of the Philippines – Los Baños, Marella Auditor, Vanessa Althea Bermudez, Christian Earl Buna and Mary Grace Lunar winning the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places respectively. Overall, the congress was attended by over 550 participants, professors, and guests coming from over 20 schools and organizations around the Philippines.
Apart from enlightening students on the role of OR in government in its efforts to alleviate pressing problems in the country, it opened participants’ views on the possibilities and applications of Operations Research. The organizers, led by Stacy Ng, with the assistance of various committees, Program, Publicity, Marketing, Registration, Finance, Logistics and External have put together a program that it hoped will challenge the participants, the nation’s future leaders, into working towards steering the Philippines towards becoming a Breakthrough Nation through the help of OR.
