Moro teen wins int’l tilt for biodegradable plastic

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has awarded with special citation a Moro adolescent for having bagged the grand prize in the 2014 eighth International Young Inventors Olympiad in Georgia last month.

The invention of 13-year-old Amin Hataman — biodegradable plastic made from the edible coconut derivative nata de coco — won a gold medal, giving honor to the youth sector in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Hataman, a student of the Fountain International School, is the oldest son of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman and Anak Mindanao party-list Rep. Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman, who both hail from the predominantly Moro island province of Basilan.  

ARMM Science and Technology Secretary Myra Alih handed over to the young Hataman a plaque of recognition during a “kanduli,” a traditional Moro thanksgiving banquet, tendered here for him last weekend by regional officials.

Alih said it is fitting and proper for the ARMM government to give the young Hataman such a citation for giving honor to the Philippine Bangsamoro community.

The international inventors’ competition, held in Georgia last May, was participated in by dozens of elementary and high school students from around the globe.

Hataman’s invention bested more than 40 official entries submitted by participants from different countries.

The contest was first pioneered by the Demirell Private College only as a local regional competition, but eventually expanded it to a more comprehensive international format, now involving 37 nations, including Georgia.

Alih said Gov. Hataman has directed the DOST-ARMM to conduct a comprehensive study on the invention. “The governor wants the technology institutionalized because of its potentially good impact to the environment,” Alih said.

The biodegradable multi-purpose plastic the younger Hataman developed out of nata de coco melts after three weeks of exposure to the elements.