The five years of existence of the Philippine
Science High School - Bicol Region Campus has been a continuous
battle with much of the seemingly insurmountable difficulties. It
seems that this Campus has been unfortunately paired with
complexity. Yet despite such fate, its determined disposition has
made it resilient to such onslaught.
The signing of Republic Act 8304 in 1996 as
amended by Republic Act 8619 in 1998 made official the conversion of
San Rafael National High School, at Tigaon, Camarines Sur under the
Department of Education Culture and Sports into the Philippine
Science High School - Camarines Sur Campus under the Philippine
Science High School System and the Department of Science and
Technology. This conversion though created mammoth problems.
For one, it had no budget and no personnel. For
two years, the Campus had to rely on San Rafael National High School
for its finances and supervision and the initial enrollees had to be
taught, without pay, by its teachers.
Secondly, the System's standard made it
impossible for the whole population to be absorbed by the Campus.
Not one in the student populace was qualified and only a handful of
the former high school's personnel could be accommodated. To make
matters worse, those who were not qualified would be displaced as
the transition would slowly erase the San Rafael National High
School from the face of the academe. All its properties would then
be owned by Department of Science and Technology. As expected, this
dilemma had received a violent reception. The transition period
created an uncomfortable pressure. It then made a rational move to
urge the Representative of the Third District of Camarines Sur, then
Cong. Arnulfo P. Fuentebella, R.A. 8304's sponsor, to pass a bill to
Congress restoring the national high school while allowing the
Camarines Sur Campus to exist. In the process, the San Rafael
National High School principal, Dr. Gregilda S. Pan, now this
Campus' Director sought the help of the local officials for a
suitable site for the Campus to transfer. The less than a hectare
site of the former national high school which had just been made a
property of the DOST-PSHS was considered by the System as inadequate
for the five-hectare lot requirement of a PSHS Campus. Anyhow, it
was apparent that in the event that the national high school was
restored, the Campus would have to leave it behind. The Campus
sought the help of the Municipality of Tigaon for a much larger site
but it had fallen on deaf ears. The Campus could not find a donor
nor a willing owner for a purchase.
It was a blessing that the call for a donation
of an appropriate site was answered by the Municipality of Goa,
Camarines Sur. On January 21, 1999, the Sangguniang Bayan of the
municipality passed Resolution No. 014-99 donating a
five-hectare-lot located at Barangay Tagongtong, Goa, Camarines Sur(
This has later grown into a six-hectare property following
Resolution No. 087-2000, passed on May 11, 2000, donating an
additional one hectare lot adjoining the first five hectares ). The
Municipality of Tigaon, having realized its mistake scrambled to
pass a resolution objecting to the transfer of the Campus to Goa
citing legalities and an alleged objections of tenants at the
donated site. But everything was baseless and mere fabrications.
Anyhow, the donation ascertained the positive
outcome of the effort to restore San Rafael National High School and
the final establishment of the Camarines Sur Campus through an
insertion in the Republic Act 8496, an Act establishing the
Philippine Science High School System which was carried thru House
Bill No. 8134 seeking for the addition of Section 11-A which
contains a paragraph providing separate personalities for both the
Campus and the San Rafael National High School, and transferring
back the latter's properties supposedly absorbed by the Campus. The
Campus could not yet transfer to its six-hectare-lot due to several
constraints like the lack of necessary facilities like buildings,
water supply, power connection and communications.
In May 2000, the discomfort of sharing a limited
space with an equally growing high school forced the Camarines Sur
Campus to Goa through the help of then Cong. Arnulfo P. Fuentebella
and the hospitality of the Partido State College. The College
allowed the Campus to occupy two of its buildings. With that, the
accommodation of 125 scholars from first to third year levels was
then solved. This tested the ability of the Campus to adopt and
respond to any challenge. It was a coincidence that a businessman
had constructed a dormitory near the occupied buildings which was
intended supposedly for the college students. The Campus, through
its Director, was able to convince the owner for humanitarian reason
to let it rent the building with a minimal amount to solve the space
problem. This happened in a span of two days.
Despite the growth of the school population to
219 scholars and 36 employees, following the decision of the
dormitory owner to construct a new dormitory building and the
College' consent of allowing the Campus' extension for another
school year and of allowing some of the scholars to occupy a section
of the college dormitory, the opening of the School Year 2001-2002
went with manageable hitches. The Campus was then waiting for Phase
I construction of its ACA and Dorm buildings to be completed.
It has always been the prayer of the Bicol
Region Campus to be able to finally settle in a place it could call
home. The desire has become more intense when it has been made
obvious the host can no longer give an extension to this Campus. The
Partido State College has just been converted into a University and
whether it would still like it or not, the need for the occupied
buildings was inevitable.
Despite the complexity of problem of
accommodation, the Campus finally moved to its present site during
School Year 2002-2003.
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