A Brief History of the Muntinlupa National High School
JULY 1945. Manila had been liberated four months earlier, and American liberation
forces and Filipino guerillas were mopping up remnants of Japanese resistance
in Luzon and the other islands.
At
the New Bilibid Prisons Reservation, employee parents of children graduating from
the elementary grades faced the dilemma of where to send their children to high
school. The nearest high schools were in Biñan in the south and Manila in the north. And many of these parents, being average wage
earners, could not afford the luxury of sending their children to these
schools, much less putting them up to board and lodge in Manila. But even parents who could were
hesitant to send their children off to study in a war-ravaged city.
Acting
swiftly to address the problem, then Director of Prisons, Eriberto S. Misa, and
other prisons officials, among them then Prisons Superintendent Atty. Alfredo
M. Bunye, petitioned on July 17, 1945 the Office of the Secretary of
Instruction and Information for permission to open a public high school
within the prisons reservation – on the guarantee that prisons administration
would provide the building, desks, tables and other facilities needed by the
proposed school. Another letter sent a week later proposed that a monthly
tuition fee of 10 pesos be charged every student.
As
soon as approval came from the Office of the Secretary of Instruction and
Information, then Division Superintendent Vicente Garcia received instructions
to organize the school with two teachers to start with. Mr. Cesar S. Tiangco,
Mrs. Lourdes Tibayan and Mrs. Catalina Roque were the first members of the
school faculty. They were later joined by Mrs. Teodora Sacco, Mr. Melchor
Tugab, Mrs. Pilar Franco and Miss Clarito. The school board was composed of Mr.
Generoso Castañeda, as Chairman, and Atty. Alfredo M. Bunye and Mr. Rufino
Recaido, both prisons officials, as members.
The
shop of the Prisons Construction Building on Type B served as the first ‘school building.’ It had two
rooms that served as classrooms, another as laboratory room, and a third, as
home economics room. A small concrete building – windowless and with just one
door, called “karsel” because it looked like a solitary confinement cell –
served as the fourth year room. Across the road, a small patch of land served
as the school’s horticulture garden while the entire ‘Central Park’ was the
school’s playground.
The
school’s first graduation took place in 1949 with the sisters Eufronia and
Pacita Recaido leading the 41 class members, as valedictorian and salutatorian,
respectively. Prisons Director Eustaquio Balagtas gave the commencement speech.
The
construction-shop-turned-into-school-building structure on Type B existed for
another five years before it was felt necessary to find a new site to
accommodate the growing number of enrollees. About this time, children of
non-reservation residents from the barrios as far as Sucat, Cupang and Alabang
had begun to be admitted to the high school.
On
recommendation of then Prisons Superintendent Atty. Alfredo M. Bunye, a
10.5-hectare site within the prisons reservation was surveyed in 1951. Shortly
after, an agreement was forged between the Secretary of Education and the
Secretary of Justice reserving the site for the Muntinlupa High School.
With
the site secured, Prisons Director Eustaquio Balagtas made representations
in 1953 with then Senate President Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez for national
aid for the construction of a new school building. Accordingly, 40,000 pesos
were allocated from the congressional funds of then Rizal Congressman Eulogio
Rodriguez, Jr. for the project.
Construction
of the new Gabaldon-type school building began on August 15, 1954 during the
term of Prisons Director Atty. Alfredo M. Bunye with free labor provided by the
prisons’ crew of carpenter inmates. Completed within less than a year, the
building was inaugurated on August 6, 1955 with Rizal Governor Isidro Rodriguez
and Director of Public Schools Benigno Aldana as guests of honor.
The
new school building opened its doors in School Year 1955-1956, marking the
official transfer of the school from its Type B location to the new
10.5-hectare site.
Among
the last graduates (Class 1954) in the old building on Type B was MNHS Pilipino
teacher, Mrs. Lourdes San Jose. And the following year, Class 1955 became the
first graduates from the new site, teacher Mrs. Teodora Deang among them.
The
erstwhile Muntinlupa High School gained its present status as Muntinlupa NationalHigh School on January 1, 1978 upon approval by then
Ministry of Education and Culture Secretary Juan Manuel and Deputy Budget
Commissioner Teodulo Agcaoili.
In
1980 fire razed the high school’s Main Building, and while it
was quickly replaced with an Imelda-type structure, the burgeoning school
population brought about the problem of perennial lack of classrooms. With
support from the City Government, however, several two-storey classroom
buildings, including a gym, science and DOST buildings, were constructed in the
late ‘80s. A library building was also planned.
From
its humble beginnings, the Muntinlupa National High School has gained a prominent
stature in the education sector, having graduated students who occupied and are
occupying key positions in both the government and private sector. It has also
gone a long way from its first graduating class of 41 members to 1,477
graduates on its 60th Commencement Exercises March 26, 2008.
For
all that it has become today, the Muntinlupa National High School owes a great debt of gratitude to Prisons Directors Eriberto S.
Misa and Atty. Alfredo M. Bunye, whose shared vision and commitment to public
welfare and education have changed the lives of thousands who would not
otherwise have had access to good affordable education. To the line of
dedicated and committed principals -- Mr. Cesar S. Tiangco (1945-1976), Mrs.
Marcela B. Ponce (1978-1991), Mr. Felix A. Balbaguio (1991-1995), Dr. Isabelita
L. Montesa (1995-2006) and Dr. Estrella C. Aseron (2006-Present) – who ably
steered the ship of learning with their exemplary leadership, courage and
determination. And to the great and heroic teachers who shed
‘blood, sweat and tears’ to fulfill an honorable commitment to bring the light
of knowledge and enlightenment where darkness once was.
And now, construction
work has begun on an Alumni House – called Bulwagan ng Alumni – which, through
the initiative of the Muntinlupa National High School Alumni Foundation
(MUNHSAF) and with support from alumni across the years, here and across the
seas, would hopefully bring together alumni, teachers and students of the MNHS
under one roof -- and get the memories flowing once again …
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