TARLAC NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

HISTORY

Perhaps very few people know that the Tarlac High School, formerly the Tarlac Provincial High

School, and now the Tarlac National High School was the first public High school that was ever

established in the Philippines after the American Occupation.

The Province of Tarlac once belonged to the Pangasinan, Tarlac-Zambales schools division

superintended by Mr. S.C. Newson. In October, 1900, Mr. Frank R. White was named deputy

division superintendent for Tarlac Province and during his incumbency, the Tarlac Provincial

high School was opened on September 1, 1902, with Mr. White as the first principal. He served

only for two months after which he was appointed division superintendent for the Tarlac

Province. He was succeeded by Mr. S.A. Campbell as principal of the high school. Classes were

held in rented buildings and four American men and two American women assisted the principal

in teaching. The students were classified according to their mental abilities. However, this

system of classifying students was abolished in 1905 in favor of another. The subjects taught

were grammar, language physiology and music. A history book was used as a reader. All books

and writing materials were given free.

White and Campbell did not stop after organizing an embryonic high school. Through their

initiative and resourcefulness, they were able to secure a permanent building and to them goes

the credit of having Tarlac build the first high school building in the Philippines. The site, a short

distance south of the town plaza, contained 7,860 square meters. The building was made of

Oregon pine and was 42 feet wide and 76 feet long. The upper storey contained two classrooms

and an assembly hall, while the lower portion has four classrooms and the principal’s office.

Aside from the equipment which was all imported from the United States, the total cost of Tarlac
Provincial High School was P48,000. Superintendent White started the construction of the

building and Superintended O.S. Rimold saw it completed. The Honorable James Francis,

secretary of public instruction, opened it in January, 1904. Mr. George Egan was the principal. A

large flag of the United State, a gift of the Martha Washington Society of New York, was

unfurled at the time in honor of the first public high school in the Philippines. The building was

used until 1915 when it was condemned as unsafe by the district engineer and was demolished.

For a time, Tarlac had no high school building.

In 1905, the enrolment was 40. This increased to 382 in 1918. The intermediate department

which was also housed in the same building as the secondary, had 85. In 1918, there were 368

pupils enrolled. The first Year of the Tarlac Provincial High School was permanently introduced

in 1905; the Second Year, in 1906; the Third Year, 1910; and the Fourth Year in1917.

Woodworking and drawing were early introduced into the course and were done in the basement

of the old government building facing the provincial high school. In 1906, this building was

gutted down by fire and the equipment used in the course was lost. Woodworking and drawing

were not again properly treated until three years later when a school shop was constructed on the

site of the provincial capitol. It was built of reinforced concrete, 96 feet by 32 feet with two

wings 30 by 26 feet. It was well preserved so that in 1918, it was housing 91 boys of the trade

course.

Since June 1915, the provincial high school and the intermediate school have used rent-free, the

primary school building of Tarlac and until October of 1917, a temporary building for the

domestic science department. A new high school site containing 78,405 square meters has been

acquired after two years of persistent effort on the part of the then superintendent of schools, Dr.
Adam C. Deikum. The site contained three lots of 68,084, 5,419 and 4,902 square meters,

respectively. These were acquired between April 20, 1917 and June 27, 1917.

Sufficient ground was in the site to hold all the departments of a high school together with a

track, a baseball field and a school garden. Based on the estimates of enrolment increases, the

Tarlac Provincial High School should be a building capable of serving five hundred secondary

students. To this, P100,000 was needed. (The source of this article failed to mention when the

new high school building was constructed.)

Athletics held a prominent place in the school life of Tarlac ever since Mr. White, school

principal, started his pupils of the municipal school to play among themselves and against

American soldiers. In 1906, the high school base baseball team played against teams outside the

province for the first time when Mr. Barton took it to Manila. In the second year of the Central

Luzon Athletic Association, organized in 1907 to include Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac and Nueva

Ecija, Tarlac won the championship in baseball and in track and field. And in 1914, when Agno

Valley Athletic Association was formed of Tarlac and Pangasinan, Tarlac won the baseball

competition.

Among the Americans who served as principals of the Tarlac Provincial High School from 1900

to 1918 were Frank R. White, S.A. Campbell, O.S. Reimold, George Egan, Frank T. Reising,

Edmund J. Gibbons, Charles E. Lucas, Carroll A. Peabody, George W. Betz, August L. Prodoehl

and Mathew D. Ashe.

Those who served in acting capacity during the temporary absence or short illness of the regular

incumbent were George L. Parks, David C. Leveland, Ernest A. Briles, Reece A. Odver and

(Mrs.) Agnes M. Dorkum.

The first annual commencement exercises of the Tarlac Provincial High School was held at the

Tarlac Central School campus on Wednesday, March 27, 1918. The program was simple and

short as follows: Overture by an orchestra; Salutatory, Mr. Nasario Sadorra; Male Quatette,

Seniors; Valedictory, Mr. Luciano Salak; Selection from Faust Orchestra; Address, Hon. Ernesto

Gardiner, governor of Tarlac; Song, Graduating Class; Presentation of the Graduating Class, Mr.

Matthew D. Ashe, principal; Distribution of Athletic Prizes; Award of Diplomas and address to

the Graduates, Dr. Adam C. Derkum, division superintendent of schools of Tarlac; Finale

Orchestra.

The faculty of the Tarlac Provincial High School during the school year was composed of the

following: Mr. Matthew D. Ashe, principal; Mrs. Agnes M. Derkum, Fourth Year; Miss

Catherine D. Morgan, Third Year; Mr. Roy L. McFrederick, Second Year; Mr. Ricardo Ortega,

First Year A; Miss Pilzar Barreta, First Year B; and Mr. Julio Laoang, First Year C.

Of Class 1918, there were only 30 members and only 3 of whom were women. Most of them

came from Tarlac and Pangasinan. Their class officers were: Jose Rosario, president, Teofilo del

Rosario, vice president; Luciano Salak, secretary; and Lina Aguilar, treasurer. The class adviser

was Mrs. Agnes M. Derkum. The class motto was, Commence and Complete; Class color: Blue

and White.

In his class history (the class prophecy was written by Rufina Reyes), Luciano Salak, the class

valedictorian, mentioned that in June 1914, there were about eighty students from different

intermediate schools who assembled in the Tarlac High School to form the Class of 1918. The

following school year, less than one half enrolled in sophomore class, and in June 1917, there

were only 18 of them who returned for enrolment. These, however, were augmented by 12 new

students to compose the first senior class of the Tarlac High School.
In the order as they appeared in their annual, the members of Class 1918 and the first batch of

graduates of the Tarlac High School were: Rufina Reyes, Tarlac, Tarlac; Lina Aguilar, Tarlac,

Tarlac; Feliciana P. Aromin, Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija; Jose D. Rosario, San Carlos, Pangasinan;

Francisco R. Silaran, Balungao, Pangasinan; Sebastian Lagade, Gerona, Tarlac;

Magno B. Clemente, Camiling, Tarlac; Leon C. Fabros, Victoria, Tarlac; Teofilo de Rosario,

Paniqui, Tarlac; Luciano Salak, Tarlac, Tarlac; Bernardino Domingo, Victoria, Tarlac;

Gaudencio N. Toledo’ San Clemente, Tarlac; Manuel A. Ramirez, Tayug, Pangasinan; matias

Tolentino, Tarlac, Tarlac; Escolastico D. Calulut, Dagupan, Pangasinan; Fructuso C. Andrada,

San Quintin, Pangasinan; Mariano B. Gelasio, Victoria, Tarlac; Conelio E. Reyes, Victoria,

Tarlac; Narciso Cristobal, Tarlac, Tarlac; Feliciano Bachini, Camiling, Tarlac; Angel Urquico,

Tarlac, Tarlac; Amado R. Estrada, Camiling, Tarlac; Nasario M. Saderra, Moncada, Tarlac;

Nicolas F. Yadao, La Paz, Tarlac; and Teofilo T. Maglanoc, Tarlac, Tarlac.

 THS MARCH

Tell the world we’re right

Sing as we roll along
Keeping our spirit strong
Waving our banner high
before the throng
Oh, what a pride it is to her belong
Let us sing aloud the
Tarlac High School song.

THS alma dear

List to our song of cheer
Echoing from the campus
loud and clear
Give us strong
that knows no fear
filing our hearts with joy
the goal is near
THS is the song
For us to sing along
From June to March
till Victory is won
Cheering us in our fight
for fame reknown
Let us raise our voice
and sing the THS Song.

Onward let’s stick to the fight

Do the task with all our might
And keep the torch burning bright
THE MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT