Sinait National High School 4.62

How the Sinait National High School came to be


The Sinait National High School, then the Sinait Provincial High School, started as a four-room, bamboo and cogon schoolhouse surrounded by rice paddies in 1947. Today, the Sinait National High School boasts of 25 painted concrete buildings.

What prompted Sinaiteneans to establish a high school in 1947?

Before the Second World War, only a few Sinaiteneans had finished high school, not only due to poverty, but also due to the absence of a secondary school in the municipality. The nearest high school in the province was in Vigan. That’s why immediately after the war, Sinaiteneans led by their Mayor Norberto Dayoan and Atty. Juan Ipac, proposed the establishment of a secondary school in the community.


In January 1947, the Sinait municipal council petitioned the offices of the President of the Philippines and the Department of Interior for the expropriation (through the right of eminent domain) of a five-hectare land owned by Doña Maria Querol (popularly called Doña Anggit by Sinaiteneans) of Vigan, Ilocos Sur as site of the proposed high school. Another resolution requested P5,000.00 from the Sinait bolomen, who willingly shared it from their war backpays. Still another resolution on January 30, 1947 asked the then superintendent, of schools, Mr. Capili, for the opening of junior high school in June 1947. So, in May 30, he handed a resolution to the secretary of education asking for the prescription of a four-year secondary course for the said school inasmuch as the following requirements had been complied with:

1. 200 students are available;

2. an eight-hectare school site owned by Maria Querol, Ignacio Agdeppa, Marcelino Yanoria, Benito Perez and Eusebio Impelido; and

3. parents are willing to pay 100.00 and 2.00 as tuition and matriculation fees, respectively.


On June 30, 1947, enrolment in the newly established Sinait Provincial High School (SPHS) which began with the first, second and third years was finally approved. However, prospective fourth year students were temporarily enrolled. Later, through the recommendation of the division superintendent and Atty. Ipac, the fourth year was also approved. And on the first school day in July, Mr. Gregorio Viloria, formerly of the Narvacan Provincial High School, arrived to serve as the first SPHS Principal.

Regular classes began with the first batch of SPHS teachers – Mr. Jose Cabacuñgan, Mrs. Maria Cabacuñgan, Miss Isabel Concepcion and Mrs. Sofia de la Cruz (later on Mrs. Almar) Mrs. Rosa Ines, Mr. Priscillano Campos and Mr. Laureano Agdeppa joined the faculty.

School life was hard for the pioneer SPHS teachers and students. They had to walk barefooted on the muddy rice paddies to reach their schoolrooms during the rainy season. So, they constructed a long hanging bamboo bridge extending from the national highway to their respective rooms. Unfortunately, on October 6, 1947, a strong typhoon destroyed the schoolhouse forcing the (SPHS) teachers and students to hold classes in the houses of Atty. Ipac and Mr. Felipe Ipac and at the public market.

But the destruction of the bamboo-and-cogon schoolhouse was a blessing in disguise. Mr. Viloria organized the Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) which raised funds for the building on November 27, 1947. On February, 1948, Mrs. Agustina Faypon, wife of the then Gov. Perfecto Faypon laid the cornerstone of the present main building. Some months later, the building was finished to house the students.

Meanwhile, Doña Anggit pressed for the completion of the payment of her land. Alarmed, Mayor Dayoan with the support and cooperation of his councilors, asked well-to-do Sinaiteneans to chip in certain amounts for the meantime so that the municipality and the school would be able to pay even just one-half of the total amount of 15,000.00. Groups of the solicitors led by Mrs. Braulia Anunciacion, Mrs. Modesta Tambot, Mrs. Emilia Urbano, Miss Lourdes Dayoan, Judge Santiago Corpus, Atty. Plegonte Ines (he later became judge), Atty. Juan Ines (he later became Mayor), and Mr. Rufino Impelido riding on a cattle-drawn cart launched a house-to-house fund raising campaign from sunrise to sunset. The “Annak ti Sinait” (Children of Sinait) in Manila and in the United States also promised their support. The school, for its part, held popularity contests and dances and stage operettas and plays to raise funds for the payment of the school site and the construction of more school buildings. To conserve funds, the students themselves carried stones, gravel and sand needed.

During the mayorship of Atty. Juan Ines, a plan to sell a part of the school site to pay back the money of those who paid the half-payment was presented. But it was objected by Vice Mayor Estanislao Bautista who claimed that such an act would reduce the SPHS to mere dot. Hence it was not pushed through.

Despite the school’s nationalization in 1965 by virtue of an act authored by the late Congressman Floro Crisologo, the problem on the payment of the school site remained a problem. So, when incumbent Mayor George Cabacuñgan took over twenty years ago, he presented the problem to the municipal council. And it was agreed upon that the funds to be raised in the popularity contest during the town fiesta should be used.

For more than five decades, the remarkable success of the school has been achieved through the dynamic leadership and dedication of the following administrators during their term:

Mr. Gregorio Viloria 1947 – 1950
Mr. Faustino Sanchez 1951 – 1953
Mr. Felipe Pichay 1955 – 1960
Miss Isabel Concepcion 1960 – 1964
Mr. Jose Cabacungan 1964 – 1964
Mr. Salvador C. Anunciacion 1964 – 1975
Mrs. Matilde F. Padernal 1975 – 1980
Mrs. Juliet B. Etorma 1981 – 1986
Miss Generosa C. Anunciacion 1986 – 1992
Miss Nancy S. Bumatay 1992 to present

Today, after 63 years of existence, the Sinait National High School boasts of 2,168 students with 99 teaching and non-teaching personnel and 1 casual. The school serves 5 catchment areas namely Cabugao, Badoc, Sinait, San Juan and Magsingal