( Jose Abad Santos High School ) in Binondo

Prof. Albert Banico, MSS
Batch 91- JASHS

The JASHS trees are monuments of the remaining academic and cultural heritage of JASHS collective memories across generations during the last 50 years. I call the attention of now DENR Secretary Lito Atienza to reveal to the public, the alleged payment that was made as claimed by one security guard in the old JASHS premises to certify the cutting of trees within the premises. It was one of the oldest and biggest public school in ASIA.

I also call the attention of Mayor Alfredo Lim and especially the City Council of Manila who become enraged when a slaughter house which was owned by relatives of a city official was forced closed but who are silent in the destruction of a historical landmark and academic tower in the great City of Manila.

May media people, legislators, environmentalist,  advocates of responsible urban renewal, patriots, students, teachers and JASHS alumni hopefully join hands to restore the remaining trees for trees are natural monuments for all generations.

Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos was given a choice by President Quezon to either go with him to Australia or stay in the Philippines. Abad Santos stayed and was appointed acting President (Head) of the Commonwealth Government. The Japanese captured him in Cebu and was shot in Mindanao for his refusal to collaborate.

The trees remain to symbolize the towering pride of that heroism. Let us join hands to SAVE the Trees of Jose Abad Santos High School!



Sources:

Philippine News Articles, 2006-2008
Gleeck, Lewis, Jr., the Third Philippine Republic, New Day publisher, 1993
43rd Commencement exercise, Jose Abad Santos High School , April 14, 1991
Philippine Constitution, 1987
Abaya, Hernando, Betrayal in the Philippines , 1946


Nawasak na paaralan, alaala, kasaysayan at mga pangako… pati ba mga puno?





AS I SEE IT
Local gov't selling school campuses
http://opinion.inq7.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=34445

By Neal Cruz
Inquirer
Last updated 01:21am (Mla time) 11/24/2006

Published on Page A14 of the November 24, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

* * *

The Jose Abad Santos High School (JASHS) and Rajah Soliman High School (RSHS) stand on a property that used to be occupied by a police station called Cuartel Meisic in Binondo. They occupy about 2.5 hectares of land. The city council of Manila authorized the transfer of the title to this property to developer Megaworld Corp. The memorandum of agreement with Megaworld was signed last April 11, 2006 The two schools were supposed to be transferred to the old Namarco lot in Binondo, at the corner of Numancia and Urbiztondo streets.

The deal is illegal, according to Senators Alfredo Lim and Jamby Madrigal in a petition for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction filed in court.

In 1954, President Ramon Magsaysay, by virtue of Presidential Proclamation 46, excluded the site "from sale or settlement ... reserving (it) for use of the City of Manila as sites for the Meisic Police Station, Jose Abad Santos High School, Basic Health Center, and the Office of the City Engineer."

On Oct. 4, 2005, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued another proclamation, No. 925, declaring as a school site the old Namarco property in Binondo (corner Numancia and Urbiztondo Streets) and reserving the same for school buildings. That proclamation provided that the site shall be under the administration of the City of Manila but the administration of the school buildings shall be in coordination with the Department of Education. It also created an inter-agency committee composed of the mayor of Manila as chair and representatives from the Department of Education and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as members, to formulate the implementing rules.

Proclamation 46, the senators stressed, expressly excluded the property in question from "sale or settlement" and "reserved" the Cuartel Meisic compound as sites for JASHS and other specified government offices. Proclamation 925, on the other hand, reserved the Numancia/Urbiztondo property for the construction of school buildings.

"The scheme of the respondents -- to remove JASHS and RSHS reserved by Proclamation 46 to give way to condominiums and a shopping mall -- could not have been envisioned by Proclamation 925 as otherwise it could have been so stated in simple terms and there would be no need to formulate implementing rules and regulations," the senators noted.

Moreover, the Cuartel Meisic is a historical site and, under the Constitution, it cannot be disposed of for private or commercial use. Neither can the structures on it be destroyed, without violating RA 7356. The City of Manila has no authority to transfer, by mere ordinance, the property to any party. Such transfer requires an act of the national government, either by a presidential fiat or a legislative initiative.

The agreement with Megaworld, for having violated presidential proclamations, is null and void, the two senators said.

Save the Jose Abad Santos High School and Rajah Soliman High School!

After a judge junked a TRO plea to stop the demolition of the Jose Abad Santos High School (JASHS) and Rajah Soliman High School (RSHS), two heritage schools in Binondo, it's time to campaign again to prevent another heritage disaster of Atienzic proportions!

Senators Alfredo Lim and Jamby Madrigal had "asked the court to declare null and void a city council resolution authorizing Atienza to enter into an agreement evicting JASHS and RSHS from their present site in Binondo," the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported. Lim added that "the transfer and conversion of the two schools would destroy the historical and cultural significance of the area, which used to be known as Cuartel Meisic." For the significance of the Cuartel Meisic area, check out this article.

According to article, the senators also pointed out that "another resolution would give way to Megaworld Corporation to convert the site to be vacated by the students "into a commercial complex, under the (guise) of a housing project condominium structure, (complete) with several business establishments."