The Alimodian National Comprehensive High School

Alimodian High School Founders


Alimodian High School pioneer teachers


Introduction
               Immediately after the war, school houses were burned and it was a great undertaking of both the local and national government to rehabilitate them. The War Damage Claim of the Alimodian Central Elementary School helped a lot in reconstructing it. But it was a different case for the secondary education in the community because before the war only cities and capital towns had high schools.
               If the greatest accomplishment of Mayor Simeon Canonero would be singled out, it would be most probably the founding of the Alimodian High School, now, the Alimodian National Comprehensive High School in 1947.
               Right after the end of the Second World War, schools were opened so that students whose studies were interrupted by four years of fighting could finish their respective courses. Since there was no secondary school in town, high school students enrolled either in Oton High School or in the Iloilo Provincial High School. The sad thing about the situation was that transportation facilities were so limited, or at times completely lacking that young people who were earnest enough to obtain an education, had to contend with searing heat of the sun and the heavy rain as they went on foot to their school 25 kilometers away.

Establishment of the Alimodian High School
               Cognizant to the deplorable conditions of the students, municipal officials deemed it wise to put up a regional high school in this town. Mayor Canonero called a session of the Municipal Council and barrio tenientes to ready plans for the founding of an educational institution.
               The main problem by those who attended the meeting was the site of the proposed school. Since the center of the poblacion was already relatively populated and many families would be displaced should the school be built there, it was decided that the school be built in the town’s outskirts like Alibango Street. The main factor in choosing this site was that a wide portion of the school site was owned by the Alderete family. With a big heart, the mayor led the owners of the lots adjacent to the family lot to donate their land. Many donors gave their lots gratis, but some were given lots in Anino Street in exchange for those they donated.
              The major donors of the school site were Mr. Wenceslao Anino, Mrs. Patrocinio Canonero, Mrs. Matilde Alipala, Mrs. Paula Amonoy Calantas, Mrs. Teodosia Amarra, Mrs. Natalia Amparado, Mr. Gregorio Angelitud, Mr. Mauricio Canuto, Mr. Jose Andeo, Mr. Tiburcio Alfiscar, and Mr. Hugo Alfiscar.
              The founders of the school were Mayor Simeon Canonero, Vice Mayor Anacleto Amparo, councilors Wenceslao Anino, Ignacio Amparado, Pablo Albeza, Gabriel Alingasa and Teodosia Amarra.
             Nipa and bamboo were the chief materials used for the construction of the classrooms and the Home Economics building. Mr. Ignacio Amparado, a councilor at that time, lent his personal money for the procurement of the necessary materials. Labor was supplied free by the barrio tenientes and their men and other civic-spirited people in the community.