HISTORY OF ALEJO M.

PACALSO MEMORIAL NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

The far distance of home to school and the increasing number of elementary
graduates who were unable to continue their secondary education, due to financial
problem; together with the collaborative effort of the schools internal and external
stakeholders were the main reasons concerning the existence of this institution. (Debbie)
It was during the early period of 1970s when the vision of creating a public secondary
school was formally conceived. Mr. Mariano J. de los Reyes, head teacher of Bua
Elementary School; together with his teaching staff namely: Mrs. Josephina Bunuan,
Mrs. Corazon Balcita, Mrs. Remedios Totanes, Mrs. Tomasa del los Reyes, Mrs. Mechita
Damoslog and Mrs. Carmelita Ladia including the supportive Parents and Teachers
Association headed by Mr. Hombrebueno prepared a petition paper for the establishment
of a public secondary school in the locality. The said petition was drafted by Miss Susan
Hombrebueno addressed to Mr. Basilio Anis, District Supervisor of the Ministry of
Education Culture and Sports. (All)
As a result of their study, Bua was chosen as the place for establishing the secondary
school. For information and dissemination, Sir Mariano de los Reyes, the head teacher of
Bua Elementary School instructed his daughter Miss Esperanza de los Reyes (now Mrs.
Dalay-on) and their neighbor, Miss Julie Estino to conduct a house to house registration
in preparation for the opening of the secondary school. (Section A)
The resolution was eventually submitted to the office of the municipal mayor, then to
the office of Mr. Paquito Bolislis, the Acting Schools Division Superintendent of Benguet
Province.
To facilitate the processing of the said resolution, the municipal mayor furnished a
copy of the resolution to the office of Congressman Samuel Dangwa for him to ask the
Congress to approve the establishment of the secondary school. (Section B)
Therefore, on June 1977; Itogon Municipal High School was finally established with
the operation and maintenance taken care of by the municipal government of Itogon
under the administration of Mayor Alejo M. Pacalso. It started with two sections in the
first year and one section in the second year. The students were manned by five
teachers; namely, Mrs. Noela Fagyan, Mrs. Jocelyn delos Reyes, Mrs. Corazon Balagot,
Miss Purisima Cornel (now Mrs. Padilla), and Mr. Peter Elias headed by Mr. Jerome K.
Nabus who was at the same time the principal of both Binga High School and Fianza
High School. (Sec. C)
However, in the school year 1978-1979, Mr. Nabus was reassigned to Nangalisan High
School; consequently, Mr. Henry Balangue, the principal of Bua Elementary School was
appointed as the Officer-in-Charge of the high school. (Dustin)
Through the spirit of collaboration by different stakeholders, a complete secondary
school was established in school year 1979-1980. There were around 35 students who
became the first batch of graduates. The high school development plan with the labelling
of the site which was within the 12-hectare reservation for educational purposes granted
by Executive Order No. 100 issued by the Philippine Governor-General in Manila, dated
November 28, 1913 was finally implemented. (All)
In 1981, Miss Aida D. Julian was designated as an Officer-In-Charge of the school. It
was during her administration that the name Itogon Municipal High School was changed
to Alejo M. Pacalso Memorial High School in memoriam of its founder who died on
February 26, 1981 due to a car accident while on his way for an official business.
Likewise, Two Bagong Lipunan Buildings and a three-room RP-US Bayanihan Building
were constructed. (Letter A)
Under the leadership of an officer-in-charge for almost eight years, the school was
finally led in 1987 by a full-fledged principal, Mr. Vidal D. Tello, Sr. During his term; more
buildings were constructed but mostly turned into rubbles during the killer earthquake
on July 16, 1990 except the RP-US Bayanihan building. Through the initiative of the
school principal and in coordination with the LGU and PTCA, the damaged buildings
were rehabilitated and three makeshift buildings were constructed which had been
utilized by the students until this time. (Letter M)
The dramatic increase of enrolment coming from Tuding, Gumatdang, Loacan, Ucab
and other barangays resulted in the opening of AMPMNHS annex in Ampucao during the
school year 1993-1994; and in the following school year, another opening of an annex
school in Loacan. (Letter P)
On June, 1995-March, 1997, the school was again under the administration of Mr.
Nabus when he swapped his working station with Mr. Tello. It was Mr. Nabus who
initiated a joint resolution with the CSG, PTCA and Alumni moving the schools
Foundation every February 26 to coincide with the death anniversary of its founder, the
late Honorable Mayor Alejo M. Pacalso. Thus, the first celebration of the schools
foundation was on February 26, 1997. (Letter M)
By the opening of classes in 1997, Mr. Tello was recalled to manage the school anew.
Developments initiated by the past administrations were continued to improve.
Unfortunately, on September 2000, a tragedy happened in the school prompting the
PTCA headed by Mr. Martin Ganado, Sr. to fence the school perimeters through
bayanihan system. Also, funds were taken from the PTCA including the project
contributions of Batch 2000-2001, then it was continued by an appropriation from the
Provincial Government. Likewise, the hiring of two blue guards was started to further
secure the school property. (Letter N)
Mr. Pepe S. Tubal was designated as the school principal on June 2005 when Mr. Tello
retired. Mr. Tubal initiated the Memorandum of Agreement between the school and the
store owners concerning the selling of cigarettes and liquor to the students including the
loitering of students in their stores. (Letter H)
After four months, on October 2005, Mr. Andres Cawa was assigned to lead the
school. He designed the schools development plan with the collaborative efforts of the
PTCA under the leadership of Mr. Eduardo Daniel. They passed series of resolutions to
the LGU, office of the Congressman and other non-government organizations for their
counterpart fund for two SEDIP buildings. Also, the PTCA took over the responsibility of
securing the school until today. (Letter S)
By July 2006, Mrs. Aida L. Payang replaced Mr. Cawa as the school principal since Mr.
Cawa was reassigned to Kapangan. It was during that time that the implementation of the
two SEDIP buildings was recognized. These consisted of two-storey classroom and a
school library. The Alumni Association had realized the SEDIP projects in developing the
school. (Haide)
School year 2008-2009, the first Kicked-off Brigada Eskwela Program was held in
the school where various stakeholders from different schools in the municipality
collaboratively exerted their effort for the realization of the educational mission for
quality education. (Synalee)
June, 2013 was a home sweet home for both Mrs. Noela K. Fagyan, Ed. D. and Mrs.
Aida Payang. Doctor Fagyan was assigned as the principal of the school while Mrs.
Payang returned to Tuba as the principal of Poblacion National High School. (Sec. A)
During the administration of Dr. Fagyan, the Material Recovery Facility was put up, the
Open Court Phase I was constructed, and so with the Private Public Partnership building
which was utilized as a classroom of the Science section. Moreover, the school became
one of the adopted schools of the University of Baguio. (Sec. B)
Dr. Fagyan went on retirement and Mrs. Juliana K. Ingtitan took over as teacher-in-
charge from February 2016 to August 2016. In coordination with the PTA, alumni and
local officials, the follow-up procedures for the schools improvement were conducted,
like the Second Phase construction of the Open court, advocacy campaign for the Senior
High School was implemented and the Schools Improvement Plan was revised as
Enhanced School Improvement Plan in consonance with the K to 12 Curriculum. Also,
the Remediation Program of the Department of Education targeting the Zero-dropout rate
was implemented. (Sec. C)
Once again, the school experienced another change of administration last August 8,
2016 with the coming in of Mr. Pablo A. Khayog, Jr., who took over as the new principal
of the school. On the other hand, Mrs. Ingtitan was promoted as a school principal and
was assigned to Binga National High School. The promotion of Mrs. Ingtitan led to a
chain of promotions from Teacher III, Teacher II and the hiring of Teacher I item position.
The new administration has been advocating on the Civil Service Rules governing the
Time-in and Time-out for the teaching staff and non-teaching personnel of the school,
including the strict imposition on student-discipline. Processing and follow-up for the
construction of the school building and laboratories for the Senior High School has been
efficiently coordinated and enhancement of the Students Manual has been planned to
make it more relevant to the needs and demands of the 21st Century learners.
Today, the school is active in the pursuit of achieving the DepEds vision, mission,
goals and objectives. As part of our tradition, we are now celebrating the 40th Foundation
of our alma mater, the AMPMNHSMABUHAY! (All)