Monday, February 04, 2008 Pampanga High School 'Sentenaryu' By Albert B. Lacanlale
THE Pampanga High School (PHS) in San Fernando City, without any fear of contradiction, is the province's premier secondary school. Not only because it is the oldest high school in Pampanga, but also due to its reputation of having produced alumni who became famous in various fields, including politics -- one of them having managed to become president of the Philippines.
PHS is the alma mater of poet Amado Yuzon, Dr. Evangelina Hilario-Lacson, Retired Brigadier General Romeo David, novelist Renato "Katoks" Tayag, former acting Pampanga governor Cicero J. Punsalan, Philippine Reclamation Authority general manager Andrea "Didi" Domingo, Mayor Oscar Rodriguez, and the late Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal.
To produce quite a number of illustrious names in the history of Pampanga and even the Philippines is not a walk in the park for PHS, which had to pass through tumultuous years in the country's history, including periods of wars -- the World War II, that caused the suspension of classes of PHS from 1942-1944 -- and political struggles, and through a tough test of nature with the Pinatubo eruption and its aftermath in the first semester of the 1990s.
PHS was established while the public school system in the country is still suffering from birth pains. It had just been roughly seven years since American teachers penciled the groundwork for public schools and the Provincial Capitol having just been transferred from Bacolor town.
Historian Robbie Tantingco, in one of his "Tales from the Pampang," said in 1908, the classrooms of the future Pampanga High were located in downtown San Fernando in a big house known as "Buison Building". It was before the building near the Provincial Capitol was tapped to house the ballooning population of the school.
John W. Osborn, a Thomasite from Bringhamton, New York and a 1901 graduate of Western Reserve University, Ohio was the principal during the early years of PHS.
Today, led by Dr. Imelda Macaspac, the school's principal, PHS still feels very much the same PHS, which produced quality graduates and eventual leaders of this country.
"What I am today I credit partly due to the quality of education that I had with PHS," Mayor Oscar Rodriguez said.
Macaspac explained that the school has adopted steps to uplift the quality of education, focusing on reading and English proficiency of students.
"We believe that PHS still has what it takes to produce quality leaders in the future," Rodriguez said.
