Karen Karu, Chair of the Canadian Mathematical Olympiad Committee disclosed the names of two Filipino kids who have been placed very highly on the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (COMC) for being among the very few participants who scored between 71-74 in Group 3.

Thus, John Russel Virata of Gideon Academy and Earl Chua of Grace Christian College have been invited to participate in the 2009 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (CMO) on Wednesday, March 25, 2009. They will be with fewer than 90 students from across Canada who have been asked to join the CMO, so being requested to place them in an elite group.

The CMO examination papers will be mailed from the Canadian Mathematical Society to the Philippines through the Mathematics Trainers' Guild, Philippines that is charged to conduct the examination to John Russel Virata and Earl Chua.

Dr. Simon L. Chua, MTG, President, is delighted with this development and he is extending them his warmest congratulations in behalf of all the MTG family. Dr. Chua expressed that competition is a by-product of productive work. He further stressed, "these two kids just like the other winners in several international competitions have been powered by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others."