Parañaque National High School (abbreviated as PNHS; ) formerly known as Parañaque Municipal High School is a secondary public school, classified as a comprehensive national high school, whose main campus is located at Kay Talise Street and Dr. A. Santos Avenue, San Dionisio, Parañaque. Aside from the main campus in San Dionisio; the school currently has annexes in Baclaran and San Isidro. It also has nine former annexes located in Baclaran, Don Bosco, Don Galo, La Huerta, Marcelo Green, San Martin de Porres, San Antonio, Sto. Niño and Tambo; all independent from the school administration. The main campus of the school is notable for having one of the largest school populations in the Philippines and even in Asia. It was established on February 24, 1969, and made into a national high school by virtue of RA No. 7841 on July 25, 1994. The current principal of the main campus is Eduardo M. Taguiam, Principal II.
History
Early history/ Angela Samson and Rosario Soriano era (February 1969-October 1986) Parañaque National High School was established in 1969 through an initiative by Lourdes M. Bernabe, wife of then Mayor Florencio B. Bernabe Sr. The school was established by renting the Nery Building near Bonifacio Street, Kabihasnan with only 19 teachers and 512 first year high school students under the management of Ma'am Angelita "Ka Lita" R. Samson; the first school principal. The school is considered as the first public high school in the then-municipality of Parañaque. The school transferred to its current location beside Villanueva Creek near the then two-lane Dr. Arcadio Santos Avenue (Sucat Road) in 1973 in order to accommodate the increasing number of enrollees. The new school building featured a bas-relief made by Eugenio R. Bunuan and initially had an L-shaped layout if seen from the sky. The surrounding area during that time was mostly composed of salt farms and rice fields.
The first set of graduates graduated in 1973, with two valedictorians and two salutatorians. One set of highest ranking graduates came from the regular program and the other set came from the vocational program. This system of having two valedictorians and salutatorians remained until 1975. From 1976 to 2005, the school only had one valedictorian and one salutatorian per batch.
The school continued in increasing in population, especially with an influx of migrants coming from the provinces seeking work in the newly-formed and industrializing Metro Manila. This prompted the school to expand the original building and add new ones, surrounding the quadrangle by three sides.
Samson remained the principal for 16 years, only to retire at the mandatory retirement age of 65. During her time as principal, the current Department of Education reorganized and changed names multiple times as part of administrative and structural changes: Department of Education and Culture in 1975; Ministry of Education and Culture in 1978; and Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports in 1984. Rosario M. Soriano succeeded Angelita Samson in 1985.
Soriano's key project was the addition of open classrooms for the home economics class, built with the assistance of the Municipal OIC (Officer-in-Charge) Rodolfo Buenavista. Soriano retired as principal the next year.
Expansion/ Rosa Sioson and Estrella Aseron era (October 1986-August 2006) In 1986, Rosa V. Sioson became the third principal and began as OIC from her former position as former head of the English Department and as OIC/Assistant Principal. The school initially faced multiple issues during this time: understaffed school faculties, salary disputes, sanitary and structural concerns, and the then approximately 10,000 student population. Because of this, then-mayor Walfrido N. Ferrer and his councilmen had approved appropriations for the construction and rental of the buildings to accommodate the increasing number of students. A 24-point project was also established for the school, of which it included the construction of an 18-room-three-storey building. This was done with the help of then mayor Pablo R. Olivarez.
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports was reformed again in 1987; changing its name to the Department of Education, Culture, and Sports.
The school established annexes across the municipality as the number of enrollees increased. These annexes were La Huerta (1989), PNHS-Baclaran (1991), San Martin de Porres (1993) and a science high school: Parañaque Science High School (1990). An OIC/Assistant Principal has been assigned to the annexes: Presencia Damian in PNHS-Baclaran, Narcisa F. Catindig in La Huerta, Urbano Agustin in San Martin de Porres, and Elizabeth Cabales in Parañaque Science. All OICs functioned as the immediate head of their respective annexes and were department heads of the school.
PMHS started its process in becoming a national high school in 1989. It was recognized as a national high school by virtue of RA no. 7841 on July 25, 1994; however, the school still used the name "Parañaque Municipal High School" up until the early 2000s. Parañaque Science High School became independent the same year, however the school occupied a building within the school grounds until its transfer to Sto. Niño in 2011.
In 1993, the school added what would become the current Science, Technology, and Engineering (STE) Program. Initially called the Engineering and Science Education Program (ESEP), the school was one of the first 12 schools in NCR to offer such program. The first few students of the program were taken from the upper two sections from first year up to fourth year. The teachers of the program were asked to take a Certificate or Diploma Program in the sciences or mathematics from either De La Salle University-Manila (DLSU-M) or Philippine Normal University (PNU). The first graduates of the program graduated the next year.
The School of the Future (SOF) Building was built during this time, covering the old façade of the school and expanding the lobby. The school quadrangle was now enclosed by four buildings as the now-called East Quisumbing Building was extended further to the South Quisumbing Building and these buildings were collectively called Building A.
Doctor Arcadio Santos National High School became independent in 2000. This former annex would in turn have three former annexes as well: Masville National High School (1997), Moonwalk National High School (2005), and Sun Valley National High School (2008).
The Department of Education, Culture, and Sports was renamed into the Department of Education by virtue of RA no. 9155 in 2001. Rosa V. Sioson's retired at the age of 65 in the same year. The school was headed by an officer-in-charge for a few months from late 2001 until early 2002.
Estella C. Aseron, former head of the Mathematics Department, succeeded Sioson by becoming officer-in-charge then becoming principal. Beautification projects were initiated such as the "Adopt-An Area" program, with each school department adopting and then beautifying an area of the school. The Basic Education Curriculum was implemented a few months later; streamlining and reforming the education system.
Baclaran National High School (not to be confused with Parañaque National High School-Baclaran) was established in 2002 as an annex of Parañaque National High School-Main, thus adding another high school in Baclaran.
The system of having two valedictorians and two salutatorians was revived in 2006, this time one set came from the DOST/ Special Science Program and the other came from the regular program. This system lasted until 2015 because of the transition to the K-12 program.
Urbano Agustin era (August 2006-October 2014) Urbano E. Agustin came from Dr. Arcadio Santos National High School, a former annex of Parañaque National High School-Main. He assumed office at August 2006. He is the first male principal of the school.
The school was given major renovations during that time such as air conditioned and newly renovated faculty rooms for faculty members. A number of function rooms were also created: speech laboratory, science laboratories, English reading center, dance room, glee club room, Filipino resource center and computer rooms. Lapus Building was constructed and the SOF Building was expanded during his time as principal.
The school experienced an influx of students especially from transferees from private schools and the provinces. Even though there was a steady increase of students and crowding was a problem, the school was able to have vacant classrooms especially in anticipation of the Senior High School Program.
The first batch of grade 7 students entered the school premises instead of first year students of the old system in the SY 2012–2013 because of the change from the Basic Education Curriculum program to the K-12 program, with the program set into law in 2013 by virtue of RA no. 10533. The older grade level system under the old curriculum was slowly being phased out for the newer grade level system under the junior high school program.
Tambo National High School (2007), Sto. Niño National High School (2012), and Don Bosco High School Parañaque (2013) were established as annexes of the school during that era. Baclaran National High School became independent from the school in 2009. Parañaque Science High School transferred to its current location in Sto. Niño in 2011.
He retired from his position in October 2014 at the age of 65.
Rosendo Abulog era (October 2014-July 2018) Dr. Rosendo C. Abulog, like his predecessor Sir Agustin, also came from Doctor Arcadio Santos National High School-Main. He assumed office at October 28, 2014.
The last batch of students under the former Basic Education Curriculum of 2002 graduated in 2015. The next school year, the first batch of grade 10 students had a different End of School Year rite instead of graduation. The students completed their junior high school year with a moving up program, being issued a junior high school diploma as proof of completion. There were two students who gained the highest honors, one coming from the then Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program and the other from the regular program.
Instead of the first batch directly entering college as the previous batches did, the first set of moving-up completers entered the senior high school program instead during school year 2016-2017. The school has two highest honors per batch in the system; one from the regular program and the other from the science, technology, and engineering program. At said school year, the school had a population of approximately 12,000 students.
The Luistro Building was built and was named after the secretary of Education that time. The school implemented the senior high school program as part of the K-12 curriculum that was being implemented by the Department of Education. This led to the sudden increase in the number of students in the school. The school gymnasium was also demolished and Briones Building was built in its place, the building being named after the secretary of Education that time.
New school uniforms, with distinct uniforms for junior and senior high school students, were implemented by the school during SY 2016–2017. The new uniforms use a blue and green plaid pattern instead of the plain white color uniforms used in the old uniform. The senior high school uniforms differ from the junior high school counterpart by having epaulettes for the male uniform and a slimmer fit for the female uniform.
Parañaque National High School- Marcelo Green was established in 2015. A number of annexes became independent from the school during the time, and these are Don Galo National High School (2015), La Huerta National High School (2016), Sto. Niño National High School (2016), Don Bosco High School Parañaque (2017), San Antonio National High School (2017), and Tambo National High School (2018).