DAVAO CITY, Philippines – It pays to be at the top of your class in elementary and high school at the gold-rush site on Mt. Diwalwal in Monkayo, Compostela Valley.

Students with the highest honors get a 15-gram refined gold medal worth P35,000 at the Mt. Diwata Elementary School and Mt. Diwata High School.

The Mt. Diwata barangay council has been giving away real gold medals to top students for 14 years now.

And this year’s recipients are as always children of small-scale miners who have settled in the area, considered to have the biggest gold deposit in the country.

Sources said some of the past recipients of the gold medal award have either pawned or sold their medals, especially during difficult times.

Jolimae Bordon topped the 207 pupils at the Mt. Diwata Elementary School and was awarded the medal during the Moving Up ceremonies earlier this week.

Pearl Angelie Barabat also grabbed the much-coveted gold medal as valedictorian of the Mt. Diwata High School.

Schools Division superintendent Dr. Reynante Solitario, barangay captain Pedro Samillano, Division Senior High School and Human Resource and Development officer Sandy Yee attended the awarding ceremony at Mt. Diwata Elementary School the other day.