In my work of documenting the many landmarks and histories of the many cities of the Philippines, I have also taken note of the significance of public schools in the history and development of the communities they are located in. Most public schools are named after noted personalities in national and local history, while others are named after wealthy the patrons who donated for the school to be constructed or the area where the school is located. However, from the 96 public elementary schools and 46 public high schools in Quezon City, I have only been able document 21 public schools with monuments in the campus that are dedicated to the person or place the school was named after.
The Placido Del Mundo Elementary School is the oldest school in Quezon City, located along the western route of the Pres. Elpidío Rivera Quiríno Highway in Novaliches. The school was established in 1922 as the Talipapa Primary School, when Don Placido C. Del Mundo, donated a portion of his properties for the construction of the school. Before that, much of the Novaliches district was left in shambles and slowly rebuilding itself, after the Spanish authorities burned the town to the ground during the Philippine Revolution (1896-1898). And at the time of the founding of the school, the American colonial government was working to rebuilt Novaliches, which was then a part of the Municipality of Caloocan. Aside from his personal donations, over the years Don Placido also solicited the financial support for the school from Rizal Province Congressman and future Secretary of Labor Pedro Magsalin, the future Quezon City mayor Ignacio Santos Diaz (1950-1953), and the former Olympian high jump medalist and Boholano congressman Simeon Galvez Toribio (1905-1969). In 1934, the school was renamed as the Tandâng Sora Elementary School, after the Spanish Occupation revolutionary hero Melchora Aquino de Ramos (aka Tandâng Sora, 1812-1919), who lived near the area. And in 1965, the school was finally renamed after Don Placido, with a bust of the man commemorating his works to continually develop the school until his passing.
Another American Occupation (https://lakansining.wordpress.com/2020/04/18/quezon-city-the-american-colonial-history-of-quezon-city-1898-1939/) school is the Aurora A. Quezon Elementary School, which was named after first lady Doña Aurora Antonia Molina-Aragon Quezon (1888-1949), the wife of the Commonwealth (https://lakansining.wordpress.com/2020/04/22/quezon-city-the-philippine-commonwealth-and-the-founding-of-quezon-city-1934-1941/) president, Manuel Luis Molina Quezón (1878-1944). The school was established in 1927 as the Santol-Galas Elementary School corner of Cordillera and Luskot streets, which was then still part of the City of Manila. The school was later renamed after the first lady in 12950, one year after she was assassinated by the Communist “Huk” guerillas, along with her daughter María Aurora, her son-in-law Felipe Buencamino. The renaming of the school and commemoration of Doña Aurora was not just a gesture of respect for a beloved first lady, but also an honoring of her works as a great supported of women’s causes through the National Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Girl Scouts of the Philippines, and the orphanages White Cross and Associación de Damas Filipinas; as well as her work as the first chairperson of the Philippine Red Cross. In the 1980s, the statue of Doña Aurora by Anastacio Tanchauco Caedo (1907-1990) was installed in the school plaza, which had a similar work erected in the San Andres Manila school of the same name.
Built in 1927, the Bonifacio Memorial Elementary School was constructed in the Balintawak district, when the family of Francisco Baquinquito Pangyarihan (1871-1951) donated part of the highly contested Maysilo Estate in the Municipality of Caloocan. The school was named after the Spanish Era revolutionary leader, Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (1863-1897); whom it was believed that it was within the vicinity that he had declared the independence of the Philippines from Spain and the start of the Philippine Revolution, known as the “Cry of Balintawak”. Quezon City was established in 1939 during the Commonwealth Era, with the district of Balintawak was halved and leaving the school occupying a property that was half in Caloocan and half in Quezon City, although administered by the Philippine Department of Public Instruction (now the Department of Education or DepEd) Quezon City office. Sixteen years before the establishment of the school, a monument to Bonifacio was erected in nearby plaza. Created by Ramon Lazaro Martinez (1869-1950), the sculpture portrayed Bonifacio with his arms raised and holding a bolo in the right hand, and the revolutionary Katipunan flag (Kataas-taasan, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan) in the left hand. When the construction of the Balintawak Cloverleaf Interchange and the North Luzon Expressway started in 1968, Martinez’s Monumento sa mga Bayani ng 1896 (Monument to the Heroes of 1896) was moved to the Wenceslao Quinito Vinzons Hall at the University of the Philippines‘s Diliman campus, which was nine kilometres away. With the removal of the Martinez monument, a new statute of Bonifacio was erected at the school with a similar pose as the original artwork.
After World War II, many of the educational and military facilities were destroyed by both the 1941 Japanese bombings and the 1945 Battle of Manila. The Philippine Army’s Camp William Francis Brennan Murphy suffered little damage compared to other military bases and was easily rebuilt during the post-war Reconstruction Era. For the advancement of its enlisted personnel, the Philippine Army established the Armed Forces of the Philippines School for Enlisted Men (AFPSEM) on the 2nd of January 1946 on Santolan Road (now the Colonel Venancio “Bonny” Merioles Serrano Avenue) , and was under the Armed Forces of the Philippines with a military office acting as the principal, from 1946 to 1976. When Camp Murphy was formally turned over by the American military in 1964, the military base was renamed as Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, after the first Philippine president and revolutionary general, Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy (1869-1964). Along with the changing of the name of the military base, the AFPSEM was also renamed as the Camp Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo High School (CGEAHS) on the same year. And in 1976, the CGEAHS was turned over to the supervision of the Department of Education and Culture (now the DepEd). In 2018, in celebration of the construction of several new buildings, a monument of Aguinaldo was installed in the campus, which was created Jose “Al” Rabino Giroy (born 1962).
After the 1946 founding of the AFPSEM, enlisted personnel from Camp Murphy living in the Cubao District requested for an elementary school for their children. And in 1949, the Enlisted Men’s Barrio School was opened along 18th Avenue. In 1977, the school was renamed as the Fort Emilio Aguinaldo Elementary School after Pres. Aguinaldo, who was born in the province of Cavite, and went to Manila to take his collegiate education, at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran. However, Aguinaldo didn’t complete studies to serve as the Cabeza de Barangay in his hometown of Cavite el Viejo (present-day Kawit) in 1895, and as its Gobernadorcillo (mayor) in the same year. Joining the Freemason, Aguinaldo was introduced to the Katipunan revolutionary movement of Andres Bonifacio, another mason. And with the 1896 outbreak of the Philippine Revolution, Aguinaldo led successful armed skirmishes against the Spanish forces. In March 22, 1897, Aguinaldo was elected as president of the Philippine revolutionary government, in Tejeros, Cavite Province; but he was convinced to surrender and be exiled to Hong Kong, with the Pact of Biak-na-Bato. In Hong Kong, Aguinaldo negotiated with the American ambassador for support in his return to the Philippines, as the USA had just entered into the Spanish-American War (1898). And on the 24th of May 1898, the United States Navy’s Asiatic Squadron of Commodore George Perrin Dewey (1837-1917) arrived in Manila Bay and destroyed the Spanish Pacific Squadron, with Aguinaldo and his men aboard the USRC McCulloch. Declaring a revolutionary government on the 28th of May, Aguinaldo’s plans were dashed by the betrayal of the Americans, who blockaded Manila for Filipinos and “purchased” the Philippines from Spain for $20 million, in the December 10, 1898, Treaty of Paris. Despite these setbacks, Aguinaldo established the First Philippine Republic on January 21, 1899, in Malolos, Bulacan; but was once again thwarted by the outbreak of the Philippine-American War on February 4, 1899. Aguinaldo moved from province to province fighting and avoiding the American troops, until his capture on March 23, 1901, in Palanan, Isabela Province. Aguinaldo was forced to pledge allegiance to the Americans, and spent the rest of his days working for the care of his fellow revolutionaries, by securing pensions for the Asociación de los Veteranos de la Revolución (Association of Veterans of the Revolution). In 1993, a bust of the president was erected in the campus, featuring an older Aguinaldo as how he looked during the Commonwealth Era.
After Quezon city was founded in 1939, the Cubao Public Market was erected along Central Avenue (now Justice Pedro Tiangco Tuazon Boulevard) for the nearby farming communities and the families of enlisted personnel from Camp Murphy. In 1949, the Cubao Elementary School Annex was founded within the lot of market. After the market closed down and school took over the rest of the lot, the school was renamed as the P. Bernardo Elementary School on the 2nd of December 1951. The school was re-christened after the second Quezon City mayor, Ponciano Azarcon Bernardo, Sr. (1905-1949), who had lived in Cubao and designed the market as the city engineer before becoming the vice-mayor under Mayor Tomás Eduardo Bernabéu Morató (1887-1965). The change of name came two years after Mayor Bernardo’s death, as he part of the entourage of Doña Aurora during her assassination in 1949. Around 1992, the family of Mayor Bernardo commissioned National Artist, Napoleón Isabelo “Billy” Veloso Abueva (1930-2018), to create a statue of the mayor and installed in in the campus plaza.
When Quezon City was founded, the new residential area for the government employees was built in the southwestern section of the Dilimán Estate of the Tuason clan, by the government’s Homesite Corporation. The newspaper publisher and president of the Homesite Corporation, Don Alejandro Gonzalez Roces, Sr. (1875-1943), purchased a small portion of the Dilimán Estate to develop on his own. Part of Don Alejandro’s land was converted into a public market along South Market Street (now Roces Avenue). After the war, the family of Don Alejandro donated the land to the government, to open the Quezon City High School Annex in 1951. When the school gained independence for the Quezon City High School (est. 1947) on 26th of April 1964; it was quickly renamed as the Don Alejandro Roces, Sr. Annex (1964-1981), then to the Don Alejandro Roces, Sr. Vocational High School (1981-2000), and finally the Don Alejandro Roces, Sr. Science-Technology High School (2000 to present). To celebrate the 1964 renaming of the school and the 88th birth anniversary of Don Alejandro, the his former employees unveiled a bust of their boss in the campus. The bust was created by the future-National Artist, Guillermo Estrella Tolentino (1890-1976), as a birthday gift to his friend, Don Alejandro. Sadly, this gift was given just four months before the untimely death of Don Alejandro, as he had succumbed to the effects of the Japanese Occupation, including his earlier incarceration in 1942. On the base of the bust is the dedication:
A Le Ha Do (baybayin for Alejandro)
Sed Justos Siempre / Be Just Always
Gu E Le Mo To Le Ti No (Guillermo Tolentino)
On the 2nd of July 1952, the Quezon City High School La Loma Annex opened its doors along Mayon Avenue. In 1960, the school was renamed as the Eugelio Rodriguez Jr. High School, after the Rizal Province 1st district Congressman Eulogio Santiago Rodriguez Jr., who had passed away the previous year. The renaming was also indirectly an honor to the congressman’s father, Eulogio “Amang” Adona Rodríguez Sr. (1883-1964), one of the founders of Quezon City longest serving Philippine senate presidents. And in 1999, a bust of Congressman Rodriguez was installed in the campus grounds.
However, there are two more busts unveiled in the Eugelio Rodriguez Jr. High School in 2005, to honor two exemplary students of the school. The first statue is that of First Class Scout Roberto Corpus Castór (1949-1963) of the Boy Scouts Quezon City Council, who was one of the 24 representatives of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) who died in the plane crash of United Arab Airlines Flight 869 on route to attend the 11th World Scouting Jamboree, in Greece. The second sculpture is that of Scout Oscar Magan Alcaráz (1953-1970), whom a nearby road and local scout troop is named after. Alcaraz was a scout and junior forest ranger of unit Explore 14, when he drowned after saving his scoutmaster during a swimming accident, at the La Mesa Dam, during reforestation program between the BSP, the PNB (Philippine National Bank), and the DANR (Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources). For his bravery, Scout Alcaraz was buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Cemetery of Heroes), Fort Bonifacio; and he was also posthumously conferred the Gold Medal of Merit by the BSP and the Presidential Merit Medal by President Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (1917-1989).
In the Homesite Corporation post-war relocation Project 3, the first public school in the area was the Quirino Elementary School, which opened in 1951 along Anonas Street. The school was named after President Elpidío Rivera Quiríno (1890-1956), who directed the Homesite Corporation to construct the Projects 2 to 4 residential sites, to relocate families who were displaced by the effects of World War II. Pres. Quirino took over the reins of government after the untimely death of Pres. Manuel Roxas, and won a reelection to serve from the years of 1948 to 1953. Quirino continued the reconstruction of post-war Philippines, with one of the majors acts was the declaration of Quezon City the capital of the Philippines in place of Manila, the relocation of many families with the Homesite residential projects, and the rebuilding of other towns and cities damaged by the war such as Cebu and Baguio.
The Ramon Magsaysay High School was established in 1953, and was first located near Marikina-Ermita Avenue (now the Doña Aurora Antonia Molina Aragón Quezón Boulevard) and Highway 54 (now the Epifanio Cristóbal de los Santos Avenue or EDSA). First opening as the Quezon City High School Cubao Annex, the school became independent in 1958 and was renamed the Cubao High School. In 1960, the school was relocated to its current site, which is where the second Quezon City Hall once stood. Almost a year after Pres. Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr. (1907-1957) died in a plane crash on Mt. Manunggal in Cebu, the school was once again renamed after the beloved president. To honor the president’s father, Exequiel Magsaysay y de los Santos (1874-1969), before his passing, as bust of the president was unveiled in his birth town of Iba, Zambales. The bust was created by Guillermo Tolentino, who would make a cast of the sculpture, which would later be installed at the Ramon Magsaysay High School in the 1970s.
Established in 1953, the Pura V. Kalaw Elementary School was the first public elementary school to open in the Project 4 district in between the Homesite relocation program streets of Datu Lakadula, Rajah Salalila, and Major General Vito Loyola Belarmino. Starting as a Quirino Elementary School Annex, the school gained independence in 1958, and was named after the feminist and writer, Purificacion “Pura” Villanueva-Kalaw (1886-1954), who had donated the land for the founding of the school. In 2011, a bust of Pura Kalaw was unveiled in the campus, to honor the woman who first rose to prominence as the first Philippine beauty queen, capturing the title of the first Queen of the Manila Carnival, in 1908. However, Pura didn’t rely on her beauty to get by, as she organized the women’s suffrage movement with the Asociacion Feminista Ilongga, two years before that at the age of 20. Pura would continue to push for reforms on various by writing for the newspaper El Tiempo. Pura has written also many books on Philippine society and culture, including one of the first Filipino cookbooks, the booklet Condimentos Indigenas, which was published in 1918. Pura would marry the scholar, legislator and historian Teodoro Maniguiat Kalaw (1884-1940), and their children were just as influential in Philippine society and politics.
The Roxas District of Quezon City was part of the of the Homesite housing Project 1, that began in 1940, but stopped due to the Japanese invasion of World War II. The relocation was continued by President Manuel Acuña Roxas (1892-1948) during the post-war Reconstruction Era, and was thus named after the president after his untimely death in 1948. The eight years after its founding, the Quezon City High School Roxas Annex (est. 1957) was renamed as the Manuel A. Roxas High School after the president in 1965. The school was first located within the campus of the General Roxas Elementary School (est. 1949), and was moved to its present location at the corner of South 19 Street (now Senior Scout Pathfinder Henry Cabrera Chuatoco Street) and South C Street (now Senior Scout Pathfinder Filamér Santos Reyes Street) in 1976. To celebrate the new home of the school, Anastacio Caedo was commissioned to sculpt a full-size statue of Pres. Roxas that was unveiled that year.
The Lucas Pascual Memorial Elementary School opened in 1960 as the Baesa Elementary School and it was the first public elementary school of the Baesa district of Novaliches, which was later followed by the Lopoldo B. Santos Elementary School in 1972. Dr. Lucas Rivera Pascual (1890-1968) donated the land for the school, which changed its name in 1968 to honor the passing of patron of the school. Dr. Pascual served as a municipal councilor of Caloocan from 1919 to 1940, and Quezon City councilor from 1948-1951 and 1953-1959. Dr. Pascual and his wife opened the Pascual General Hospital along the Quirino Highway, also in Baesa. In 1997, the family of Dr. Pascual unveiled a monument of the school’s founder in the campus’ plaza.
The Juan Sumulong High School opened its doors as the Ramon Magsaysay High School Murphy Annex in 1961, in Cubao. Upon gaining independence in 1964, the school was renamed after the Spanish and American occupation revolutionary leader, journalist, lawyer, educator and politician from Rizal Province, Sen. Juan Marquez Sumulong Sr. (1875-1942). After the war, Sumulong worked for the papers of La Patria and La Democracia, before practicing law and teaching at the Constitutional Law at the Escuela de Derecho de Manila (Manila Law College, est. 1899). Later, Sumulong was appointed as a judge of the Court of First Instance and of the Court of Land Registration. Sumulong would later serve as a member of the Philippine Commission to the USA from 1909 to 1913, a congressman in the Philippine Assembly from 1916 to 1023, and the Philippine Senate from 1925 to 1931.
The Marcelo H. Del Pilar Elementary School began its operations in 1964 as the K-D Elementary School of the Homesite Project 1, near the corner of Kamuning Road and EDSA. On the 30th of August 1966, the school was renamed after the Spanish Era propagandist, Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaitán (1850-1896), who better known by his pen name Plaridel. Del Pilar was already known for his anti-friar activities in the Philippines, and was banished to Spain for his actions. There he joined the propagandists and the “La Solidaridad”, where he would later replace Lopez-Jaena as editor.
The Carlos Garcia High School started in 1965 as the Ramon Magsaysay High School Ermin Garcia Annex, on Minnesota Street (now Ermin Erfe Garcia Sr. Street) in Cubao. When the school gained in dependence on the 22nd of September 1971, it was named after Carlos Polestico Garcia (1896-1971), who had passed away the same year as he was serving as the President of the Constitutional Convention. This honor was much deserved for the president who institutionalized his Filipino First Policy that gave more preference in Filipino owned businesses over foreign own companies and investors, the government’s Austerity Program that controlled government spending and national imports for local growth, and the Republic Cultural Award that gave honor to Filipino artists, scientists, historians, and writers. When the Carlos P. Garcia High School was able to transfer to is permanent home, and bust of the president was unveiled on the 28th of February 1989, along with the blessing of the new building.
The Jose P. Laurel Sr. High School was established in 1965 as the Quirino High School Project 4 Annex, to accommodate the graduates of the nearby Pura V. Kalaw Elementary School. Upon garnering independence in 1968, the school was named after the educator and 3rd President of the Philippines, José Paciano Laurel y García (1891-1959), who was the administration’s representative to the Japanese from 1942 to 1945, along with Benigno Simeon “Igno” Aquino Sr. (1894-1947) as Speaker of the House. The Jose P. Laurel Sr. High School is the first public high school in the Homesite Project 4 district, and is located Rajah Salalila Street and P. Tuazon Boulevard.
The Ponciano Bernardo High School was established in July 1967 as another of the Ramon Magsaysay High School annexes, and was built right behind the Ponciano A. Bernardo Elementary School in Cubao. When the school gained independence in September 1968, the school was renamed after Mayor Ponciano Azarcon Bernardo. Bernardo came from Santa Rosa, Province of Nueva Ecija, and migrated to Manila to take his engineering studies at the University of the Philippines. Upon obtaining his license, Eng. Bernardo worked for the Bureau of Public Works, where he was assigned to Antique, Baguio City, and Tayabas. It was during his 1929 assignment as the provincial engineer of Tayabas, did Bernardo meet the then-senator Manuel Luis Molina Quezón (1878-1944). When Quezón became the president of the Philippines, he appointed Bernardo as the vice-mayor and district engineer of the newly established Quezon City, with Tomás Eduardo Morató as the mayor. After World War II, President Sergio Suico Osmeña Sr. (1878-1961) appointed Bernardo as mayor of Quezon City, who was tasked in rebuilding the city and the new city hall. Bernardo was never able to complete his term, as he was killed in an ambush by the Communist Hukbalhap, while accompanying former first lady, Doña Aurora Quezón, on their way to Quezon’s hometown of Baler, to inaugurate a hospital dedicated to the former president. The assassination happened on April 28, 1949; with Doña Aurora’s daughter María Aurora and son-in-law Felipe Buencamino III, Major General Rafael Jalandoni, Col. Primitivo San Agustin, Lt. Col. Antonio San Agustin, Lt. Diosdado Lazam, Corporal Quirino Almarines, Corporal Brigido Almarines, Juan Molina, and Pedro Payumo also killed in the attack. Mayor Bernardo was buried at the Manila North Cemetery.
In 1967, the Pinatubo Elementary School opened along Pinatubo Street in Cubao, near the corner of Aurora Boulevard and EDSA. On the next year, the school was moved to Ermin Erfe Garcia Sr. Street, in the Homesite Project 5 district of Cubao, the school was renamed after the longest serving Philippine senate presidents, Eulogio “Amang” Adona Rodríguez Sr. (1883-1964). Rodríguez was born impoverished in the Municipality of Montalban, which is now named after him. He moved to Manila to take his collegiate and law studies, while working as a farmer to pay for his studies. Rodríguez’s first political position was serving as the municipal president of Montalban from 1906 to 1916, then as governor of the Province of Rizal from 1916 to 1923, later as mayor of Manila in 1923-1924 and 1940-1941, followed as representative of Nueva Vizcaya District from 1924 to 1925, next was representative of Montalban in 1925-1928 and 1931-1935, then served as the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce in 1934-1935 and 1940-1941, and finally serving as senator in 1945-1947 and 1949-1964. While as senator, Rodríguez served as the senate president in 1952-1953 and 1954-1963. Senator Rodríguez lived nearby at the España Boulevard Extension, which was also renamed as the Eulogio Adona Rodríguez Sr. Boulevard, shortly after his death.
In 1970, the Teodora Alonzo Elementary School opened to serve the families of the Camp Aguinaldo 1st Signal Corps Philippine Army (1SCOPA), in Barangay ESCOPA, in Project 4. First named the Libis Elementary School Escopa Annex, the school was rechristened after the school transferred to its new location on Agustin de Legazpi Street, in Barangay Marilag, which is also in Project 4. The school was named afterDoña Teodora Alonso Realonda y Quintos (1826-1911), the mother of the “National Hero” Dr. José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (1861-1896). The selection of the name of the school aligned with the many of the roads in the Project 4 that named after Dr. Rizal and people associated to him. The main road of Project 4 is the J. P. Rizal Street, which is named after Dr. Rizál, whose writings inspired the people to stand up against the Spanish colonizers. To continue the honoring of Rizal, one of the barangays is named Villa Maria Clara, after one of the lead characters of Rizal’s propagandist novel “Noli Me Tangere” (Touch Me Not, 1887), María Clara de los Santos y Alba. Nearby streets have names of people connected to Rizal; such as his mother Teodora Alonso, his sister Saturnina Rizal Mercado de Hidalgo (1850-1913), his brother General Paciano Alonso Realonda Rizal Mercado (1851-1930), his trial defender Fr. Vicente García y Teodoro (1817–1899), and his lovers Leonor Rivera–Kipping (1867-1893) and Marie Josephine Leopoldine Bracken (1876-1902).
In 1976, the Durian Street Elementary School was merged with the Quirino Elementary School as part of the government mandate of having one public elementary school in each district, as both schools were located in the same barangay of the Homesite Project 3. The new establishment was renamed as the Flora Ylagan High School Durian Annex, after Dr. Flora Amoranto Ylagan (1893-1969), the co-founder of the National Teachers College in 1928. When the school completed its 1979 certification to become an independent educational unit, it was rechristened as the Don Quintin Paredes High School, after the Senate President Quintín “Ting” Babila Paredes, Sr. (1884-1973). During the American Occupation of the Philippines, Paredes was the dean of the law school Escuela de Derecho de Manila, before serving as the Solicitor General (1917-1918), Attorney-General (1918-1920), and Secretary of Justice (1920-1921) under Governor General Francis Burton Harrison (1873-1957). Afterwards, Paredes represented the lone district of the province of Abra in the Philippine Assembly from 1925 to 1935, where he took on the mantle of Speaker of the House from 1933 to 1935. And from 1936 to 1938, Paredes served as the Philippines’ Resident Commissioner to the U.S. Congress, where he campaigned on the finalization of the Tydings–McDuffie Act that would grant the Philippines independence by 1946. Upon his return to the Philippines, Paredes once again ran for a seat at the Philippine Assembly and the Senate, then act as the Commissioner of Public Works and as Secretary of Justice of the Japanese government in World War II (1941-1045). During the post-war reconstruction era, Paredes ran once more for senate and stayed in office from 1949 to 1961, where he would lead as the Senate President until his retirement in 1963. To commemorate the statesman that the institution was named after, the family of Paredes commissioned a bust of Don Quintin at the school’s library in the 1980s, which was possible created by Apolinario “Ka Inar” Paraiso Bulaong (1930s-2013).
In 1991, the Pugad Lawin High School opened in Barangay Bahay Toro, Project 8, and was named GSIS Village High School Toro Hills Annex. In 1996, the GSIS Village High School (est. 1971) changed its name to Ismael Mathay Sr. High School, after the father of then-Mayor Ismael A. “Mel” Austria Mathay, Jr. (1932-2013) and former Secretary of the Budget Ismael Mathay, Sr. In that year, the school was renamed the Ismael Mathay Sr. High School Annex. Upon gaining independence in 1998, the school was rechristened as the Pugad Lawin High School after the historical site the school was located. The campus is situated where it is believed that Andrés Bonifacio (1863-1897) and members of the revolutionary Katipunan declared Philippine independence by tearing up their cédulas personales (identification tax certificates) in August 1896, as a symbol that they were no longer citizens of Spain. In 1988, National Artist Napoleón “Billy” Abueva unveiled the Pugad Lawin Shrine in a lot that would be later part of the Pugad Lawin High School campus.
Traveling around Quezon City and documenting the monuments within the city’s public schools has given me a deeper appreciation of the history of the schools, and the inspiring symbolism of the people and places that these schools were named after. For great leader and heroes of the past and local patrons who worked hard to develop the education of the community’s children, these monuments serve as an inspiration to generations of students to strive for the best in their lives and their communities.
About the Artists of the QC Public School Monuments:
Ramon Lazaro Martinez (1869-1950) completed his artistic training at the Escuela de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado in 1898. Originally a painter, Martinez won a bronze medal for his painting “Coming from the Market” at the 1904 Universal Exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri. Soon he started focusing on sculpture and has been noted to create the “La Madre Filipina” found on top of the Jones Bridge, and the ornamental sculpturing of the Legislative Building prior to World War II.
Guillermo Estrella Tolentino (1890-1976) is a classical sculptor who was named National Artist for the Visual Arts in 1973. Tolentino took his art studies at the U.P. School of Fine Arts, and later at the Ecole de Beux Arts. In 1926, he started teaching at the U.P. School of Fine Arts, and he would later be given the position of director. Tolentino sculpted the University of the Philippines’ most recognizable emblem, the “U.P. Oblation”, as well as the Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan City. He was also awarded the UNESCO Cultural Award in Sculpture in 1959, Araw ng Maynila Award in Sculpture in 1963, Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1967, President’s Medal of Merit in 1973, and the Diwa ng Lahi Award in 1972, before given the highest honor as National Artist.
Anastacio Tanchauco Caedo (1907-1990) graduated from U.P. School of Fine Arts; under the tutelage of National Artist, Guillermo E. Tolentino. During his apprenticeship under Tolentino, the two took to body building as a means to understand the human anatomy and strengthen their bodies for his very physical work of sculpture. This love for body building led Tolentino to fashion his opus “The Oblation” after Caedo’s physique. Later Caedo made name for himself by sculpting many religious works for the Jesuits at the Ateneo de Manila and busts of the National Hero Dr. José Rizal for many of the Philippine Embassies around the world. Caedo was nominated three times as a National Artist of the Philippines (in 1983, 1984, and 1986); which he turned down, to avoid the politics in the art world.
Napoleón Isabelo “Billy” Veloso Abueva (1930-2018) studied at the U.P. School of Fine Arts, under National Artist, Guillermo Estrella Tolentino (1890-1976), who was then the director of the school. Although trained in the classical style of sculpting, Abueva broke from its mold and began experimenting on modernist styles and techniques. Soon he became known as and Godfather of Philippine Modern Sculpture. Aside from the many historical monuments that are found all over the Philippines, Abueva has also been commissioned to create sculptures around the world. In his youth, he was awarded the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM) award; which would herald more awards and distinctions in his life. He was proclaimed National Artist for Sculpture in 1976, making him the youngest recipient of this distinction. And just like his mentor, Abueva also served as dean of the U.P. College of Fine Arts.
Jose “Al” Rabino Giroy (born 1962) is a noted sculptor, who started his career by participating in art competitions as a teen, in the 1970s. Eventually entering the University of the Philippines (U.P.) College of Fine Arts, Giroy would first delve into painting, before finally deciding to take sculpture and train under noted artists such as Froilan T. Madriñan Jr. (1941-2008) and National Artist for Sculpture, Napoleón Isabelo “Billy” Veloso Abueva (born 1930). After graduating, Giroy had participated group exhibitions, but soon focused on commissions for public art. A master of the classical sculptural created many noted monuments for government and private institutions, including churches; which are found all over the country.
Lakbay ng Lakan 
Good evening! I am Mark, an aspiring historian. I am working on a thesis about Placido del Mundo Elementary School. I was fascinated by your article. Do you have recommended readings about this topic? Thank you so much.
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There is limited information on the Plavido del Mundo school, but there is a bit on the history of QC barangays by the QC library
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This is duly noted. Thank you very much!
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