About

History of the JPNHS

The school started as Jose Pangniban Junior High School 1947, offering only the first two curriculum years. It was then located in the old compound of the Mambulao Lumber at the edge of the town, with just 200 students and seven teachers. Its first principal was Mrs. Felicidad O. Romero, who retired in 1949. Mrs. Romero was replaced by the late Agripino Floresca, who served until 1994. By that time, the school had assumed a new name: Jose Panganiban High School. When Mr. Floresca's term ended in 1954, the JPNHS started offering a full 4-year secondary curriculum. Literacy, numeracy, technology, sportsmanship, citizenship, culture and the arts were then central in the school curriculum, just as they are now in all public schools in the country. The JPHS endeavored to cope with the demands of the curriculum notwithstanding the fact that it lack much of the facilities and amenities enjoyed by other institutions of learning. It was in 1951 when JPHS transferred to its present site in Parang, the biggest of the twenty seven barangays in Jose Panganiban. The town itself is a coastal town with hilly terrain, consisting of a land area of 2,144 square kilometers, and a population close to 45,000. The residents' major sources of livelihood are fishing, agriculture and mining. It is a poligot community, with admixture of dialects that include Tagalog, Bicol, Cebuano, Ilocano and Bisaya. JPHS turned out its first batch graduates in 1951at its new site in Parang, Which consists of 3,8 hectare of land, obtained by virtue of a resolution passed by the Municipal Council, which was in turn approved and granted by the Provincial Board of Camarines Norte. In 1957, Mr. Vicente dela Cruz became the principal. Two years later, he was succeeded by Miss Beatriz Villaluz, in 1956. Miss Villauz stayed on until 1984. After her retirement, Mrs. Lilia O. Octa too over and still on the job. Miss Villaluz has the distinction of having guided the school until it acquired its present nationalized status. Nationalization came two years in to the martial law era, through Presidential Decree No. 1050, issued in June 1977. Its new status gave the Jose Panganiban National High School the priveledge of drawing from the funds of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) for its fundamental needs and for major improvements in its curricular programs. Grat had been damage to school facilities when Typhoon "Dading" swept through Bicol in 1966 but the PTA and the municipal government pooled their resources together to repair the damage and bring the JPNHS back to its toes again.

( to be continued...mambulaojbd)