The NOI.PH 2019 National Finals was held in Ateneo De Manila University’s Faura Hall last 6 – 7 April 2019. The 28 official finalists competed over two five-hour rounds, each of which consisted of five problems.

Invited to participate in the finals were the top 30 at the NOI.PH 2019 National Eliminations, a 222-hour online competition held last 18 – 27 January 2019, where 141 students from all over the country solved fourteen problems of varying difficulty.

Students who almost made it to the top 30 also made it as observers. Philippine Science High School Bicol Region Campus (PSHS BRC), coached by Mr. John Rainer Joaquin, had more than six students who scored high enough in the national eliminations. Thus, the top six students from the school attended as official participants.

This year’s observers were Adalbert Apuya, Lance Benedict Cabrera, Jose Enrique Ramirez and Ralph Richard Yanto. All are incoming Grade 10 students of PSHS BRC, and they have set themselves up for success in the next few years by gaining experience on what the national finals feels like.

In the NOI.PH, finalists tested their endurance by solving five challenging programming tasks during each day’s five-hour session. Contestants used their programming and analytical skills to create data structures and algorithms to solve each task using a program.

Events

The first day of the contest started with the opening ceremonies. NOI.PH President Vernon Gutierrez began with a speech, and said “We’re here because we love solving problems. Let’s all have some fun this weekend!”

He also discussed the rules to the competition and some notes on using the compiler before the Practice Round of the competition. In the Practice Round, students spent 90 minutes familiarizing themselves with the computers through solving some problems.

After lunch, the first round of the finals began. A mirror of the problems began shortly after. During Round 1, the NOI.PH Organizing Team held a short meeting with the coaches to discuss the state of competitive programming in their respective high schools.

Round 2 began in the morning of the second day, with a mirror contest being held again. Lunch was served after the end of the round, and NOI.PH Head Judge Kevin Atienza discussed the solutions to the problems after lunch.

Finally, the awarding was held, and the top three students won the surprise prize of a free shirt, containing source code overlaid on an NOI logo.

NOI.PH Finals Round 1

Round 1’s friendly rivalry began with Magkaribal sa Arnibal. Vincent Dela Cruz made the first submission within twelve minutes, getting 40 points. The first full solution was from Steven Chua two minutes later. By the end of the contest, twenty-five of the finalists solved the problem completely.

The Room was not a problem that teared contestants apart. In fact, of the twenty-one contestants who attempted the problem, ten solved the first subtask to get 30 points. Steven Reyes and Dion Ong solved the second substask as well to get 69 points, while Ron Surara and Dan Baterisna managed to solve the problem completely. Good thinking!

Sixteen competitors submitted code for Baby Come Bak, with five of them getting nonzero scores. Vash Ancheta and Clyde Borrega solved the second subtask to get 6 points, while Ron solved the third subtask to get 22 points. After several submissions scoring less points, Dan and Steven C. came back to Baby Come Bak to solve both the second and third subtasks to get 28 points.

Tower Bloxx was not only a popular game, but a popular problem for contestants to try with twenty-three submissions. It’s the first partial scoring task to appear in the NOI.PH Finals. Twenty submissions managed to get a nonzero score. Eight of these scored at least 20 points, with AC Mabute scoring the highest at 48.94 points. AC not only topped the towers, but he also topped the problem.

Two contestants submitted submitted code for Sumbong Centers, but unfortunately, no one managed to solve for the number of solb sets and get a nonzero score.

NOI.PH Finals Round 2

When it comes to programming, contestants are logging prepared! Illegal Logging saw quick full solves from Ryan Shao, Raphael Dalida, and Rae Samonte within the first seven minutes. Twenty-six of the finalists got a nonzero score, with twenty-three of them solving the problem fully.

Among the twenty-one participants who played the role of Mr. Kupido, sixteen got a nonzero score. Of these, eight got 6 points and four got 12 points. Frederick Tan and Ryan got 21 points, while Vincent and Steven C. were the best matchmakers, both getting 27 points.

Fifteen participants submitted code to BATIBots. Rae, Steven C., and Vincent Dela Cruz solved the first subtask to get 17 points, while Dion, Ryan, Ron, and Steven R. solved the first two subtasks to get 32 points. Dan demonstrated his Brainy Augmented Transcendental Intelligence by solving enough subtasks to get 62 points.

Sorting the Planets saw fifteen students submitting code. Only three participants got nonzero scores: Dion solved the first two subtasks to get 29 points, while Ron and Dan solved the first three subtasks to get 40 points. Hopefully these students will continue to follow Kevin’s example.

Finally, only four students attempted to draw their own Cartogram to a better place. Vincent did not take a fall on the road, and followed the cartogram that lead to a nonzero score of 19 points.

Photo Gallery

Special thanks to Joan Francisco for contributing pictures.

Scoreboard for the NOI.PH 2019 National Finals

Rank Name Score Grade School Coach Region Username Magkaribal sa Arnibal Baby Come Bak Tower Bloxx The Room Sumbong Centers Illegal Logging BATIBots Mr. Kupido Sorting the Planets Cartogram 1 Dan Alden Baterisna 480.54 11 De La Salle University – Taft NCR DBaterisnaPH19 100 28 44.54 100 100 62 6 40 0 2 Ron Mikhael Surara 429.32 11 Philippine Science High School – Bicol Region Campus John Rainer Joaquin V RSuraraPH19 100 22 29.32 100 100 32 6 40 3 Dion Stephan Ong 360.44 11 Ateneo de Manila Senior High School NCR DOngPH19 100 18.44 69 100 32 12 29 4 Steven Reyes 357.3 10 Saint Jude Catholic School NCR SReyesPH19 100 44.3 69 100 32 12 0 5 Steven Chua 322 11 British School Manila NCR SChuaPH19 100 28 20 30 100 17 27 6 Vincent Dela Cruz 309.66 10 Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science NCR VDelaCruzPH19 100 0 46.66 0 0 100 17 27 0 19 7 Ryan Mark Shao 303 12 Xavier School San Juan NCR RShaoPH19 100 20 30 100 32 21 0 8 Gregory William Joseph Liu 283.84 12 Philippine Science High School – Central Visayas Campus Felix Calvo VII GLiuPH19 100 0 47.84 30 100 0 6 0 9 Al Christian Mabute 278.94 11 Philippine Science High School – Bicol Region Campus John Rainer Joaquin V AMabutePH19 100 0 48.94 30 100 0 0 10 Frederick Ivan Michael Tan 269.6 9 Philippine Science High School – Main Campus NCR FTanPH19 100 18.6 30 100 0 21 0 11 Rae Gabriel Samonte 266.74 11 Philippine Science High School – Bicol Region Campus John Rainer Joaquin V RSamontePH19 100 0 19.74 30 100 17 0 0 12 John Eric Estrada 261.09 9 Philippine Science High School – Bicol Region Campus John Rainer Joaquin V JEstradaPH19 100 0 19.09 30 100 0 12 0 13 Marc Joshua Ayalde 255.41 11 Philippine Science High School – SOCCSKSARGEN Region Campus Sheena Dawn Ferraren XII MAyaldePH19 100 19.41 30 100 0 6 14 Raphael Dylan Dalida 236 8 Philippine Science High School – Main Campus NCR RDalidaPH19 100 0 30 100 0 6 0 15 Daniella Joan Francisco 230 10 Philippine Science High School – SOCCSKSARGEN Region Campus Sheena Dawn Ferraren XII DFranciscoPH19 100 0 30 100 0 16 Kirby Chua 225.25 12 Xavier School San Juan NCR KChuaPH19 100 0 19.25 0 100 0 6 17 Clyde Lawrence Borrega 221.66 9 Philippine Science High School – Bicol Region Campus John Rainer Joaquin V CBorregaPH19 100 6 9.66 0 0 100 0 6 0 18 Philmon Sedrick Wee 219.57 11 Xavier School San Juan NCR PWeePH19 100 19.57 0 100 0 19 Sheen Santos Capadngan 219.07 9 Philippine Science High School – Central Visayas Campus Felix Calvo VII SCapadnganPH19 100 19.07 100 0 20 Allen Adrian Solis 217.85 11 Philippine Science High School – SOCCSKSARGEN Region Campus Sheena Dawn Ferraren XII ASolisPH19 100 0 17.85 0 100 0 21 John Angelo Oringo 212 9 Philippine Science High School – Bicol Region Campus John Rainer Joaquin V JOringoPH19 100 0 0 100 12 22 Clyde Courtney Jallorina 201.46 12 Philippine Science High School – Main Campus NCR CJallorinaPH19 100 0 1.46 100 0 23 Mark Angelo Landingin 200 11 Philippine Science High School – CAR Campus Pablo Viloria, Jr. CAR MLandinginPH19 100 0 100 0 24 Justin Tan 176 12 Ateneo de Manila Senior High School NCR JTanPH19 100 0 76 25 Vaughn Matthew Valle 104 9 Philippine Science High School – Central Visayas Campus Felix Calvo VII VVallePH19 100 4 26 Michael Jay Zamoras 44 10 Philippine Science High School – Eastern Visayas Campus Cary Von Alano VIII MZamorasPH19 40 0 4 0 27 Vash Patrick Ancheta 25.07 11 Philippine Science High School – CAR Campus Pablo Viloria, Jr. CAR VAnchetaPH19 0 6 13.07 0 0 6 28 Mark Nicholas Cagas 0 10 Manila Science High School Romer Abella NCR MCagasPH19 0 0

Final Message

Congratulations to all the winners of the National Olympiad in Informatics – Philippines 2019 Finals!

The organizing committee would like to thank our host, the Ateneo de Manila University, for their generous support in providing the venue and infrastructure to hold the event. Special thanks to the ADMU DISCS technical staff for providing logistical support.

We would also like to thank our volunteers from ADMU ProgVar and UP ACM, as well as our testers and illustrators for helping out.

Lastly, we thank all the coaches, parents, and students for their participation and hard work and for making this event a success. We hope for your continued support as we move to the selection of our delegation to the International Olympiad in Informatics 2019, to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, this August.