HISTORY OF MANDALUYONG HIGH SCHOOL

Mandaluyong High School came about when Rizal Technological University (formerly Rizal Technological Colleges) started to reduce enrollment with the plan of gradual phase out of its high school department. In SY 1977-1978, the emerging new secondary high school enrolled the 1^st and 2^nd year high school students from Rizal Technological Colleges.

Mr. Rodrigo Vicencio, Jr., then Technical Assistant on Public Affairs of Mandaluyong during the incumbency of the late Mayor Renato Lopez, was very instrumental in the establishment and operation of Mandaluyong High School. Due to the persistence of the former, the latter approved an initial funding of Php 100,000.00 from the local School Board for the honorarium of teachers, mostly from Mandaluyong Elementary School who handled the first batch of students – utilizing some vacant classrooms of Mandaluyong Elementary School.

As Mandaluyong High School started to operate as a premier Municipal High School of Mandaluyong on July 21, 1977, its school head was Dr. Jesusa D. Ballesteros, a former English Department Head of Rizal High School, Pasig, with Mr. Rodrigo Vicencio, Jr. as School Executive Director.

Eventually, a national budget for the new school was allocated as assistance from the national government during the administration of late President Ferdinand E. Marcos for the construction of the 20-classroom third and fourth year buildings, now called Lopez I and II, located in Aglipay St., Brgy Poblacion, Mandaluyong City. It was in S.Y. 1979-1980 that Mandaluyong High School celebrated its first Commencement Exercises.

Since 1978, enrollment has consistently increased, thus, additional classrooms were necessary. In 1985, a two-storey four-room building was donated by a Chinese philanthropist, Mr. Tan Tian Huay, as one of the projects of the Federation of Philippine Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

After the EDSA Revolution in 1986, a nationwide political change ensued. Mrs. Corazon C. Aquino became the president of the Republic of the Philippines. In Mandaluyong, Atty. Benjamin S. Abalos, Sr. was designated as the Officer-In-Charge and later became the elected Mayor. Through his initiative, a two-storey 12-classroom building was constructed – the Abalos Building.

In 1991, through the Educational Support Fund of the United States of America, the three-storey E.S.F. Building was built to adhere to the needs of the growing school population.

In 1993, Mr. Manuel Y. Dingcong, Jr. became the second principal of the school replacing Dr. Jesusa D. Ballesteros who was transferred to Quirino High School, Quezon City. During Mr. Dingcong’s tenure, the late Senate President Neptali A. Gonzales, Sr., using his Countryside Development Fund, caused the construction of Neptali A. Gonzales Administration Building, an architecture inspired by the classical Greece.

In 2004, when Congressman Neptali M. Gonzales II became the City Mayor, the four-storey 16-classroom Gonzales Building was built. Dr. Veneranda A. Raz was then assigned as the third principal of the school.

Over the years, the school needed frequent physical improvement and development. The two-storey Abalos Building was demolished and a new four-storey 23-room Abalos Building was constructed in 2005 through the initiative of Cong. Benjamin C. Abalos , Jr. At that time, Dr. Evangelina A. Diaz headed the school as the fourth principal.

In 2011, the oldest school buildings in campus, the 33-year- old Lopez I and II, were demolished and a 9 – classroom DepEd Building replaced the old Lopez II building.

In 2015, a 4 storey, 16 – classroom school building was constructed in the site of the old Lopez I school building through the initiative of Congressman Neptali M. Gonzales II, intended for Senior High School by SY 2016-2017, which was inaugurated on August 25, 2015.

Another 4-storey, 16 classrooms also for Senior High School will be constructed by 2016, through the efforts of Congressman Neptali M. Gonzales II, to complete the classroom requirement in the school under the K to 12 Education Program.

The school stands in five concrete structures with doors and windows facing the courtyard to create an open atmosphere for its almost three thousand students under the leadership of Mr. Rosarito A. Septimo, the fifth assigned principal. At present, Dr. Ervin Salazar is assigned as the sixth principal.