Zamboanga's oldest school building gets a face lift

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 11, 2008) – Philippine Education Secretary Jesli Lapuz inaugurated Wednesday one of the oldest schools in Zamboanga City.

Lapuz led the inauguration ceremony of the Zamboanga East Central School which was originally built during the American period. Called the Gabaldon building, the school was built after Senator Isauro Gabaldon was elected deputy to the first Philippine Assembly in 1909.

In the Philippine Assembly he was noted for his education bill, known as the Gabaldon Law, which provided an appropriation of one million peso for the building of modern public schools throughout the Philippines.

Some P7.9 million was spent for the renovation of the school which sits on more than 850-square meter land in downtown Zamboanga.

The Zamboanga East Central School was formerly called the Burleigh School.

The Philippine News Agency said in 1911, at least 51 Gabaldon buildings were constructed across the country and 405 others were completed in 1916, bringing the total number of classrooms to 1,852 of which 377 were made of concrete.

According to a local historian, Icelle Borja, the original Burleigh school building was built entirely of Philippine hardwoods. Its floors, posts, trusses, and walls were hewn from the finest local materials. The windows were the lever-type with the use of a stick for support, and they were made from the translucent Capiz shells latticed in between thin strips of wood.

In her article posted at the Zamboanga.com, Borja wrote that the school’s architecture was patterned after the “Prairie" style of the American schools, which was a one-storey affair. The front corridor was embellished with wooden traceries akin to the "Calado" type of delicate embroideries. It decorated the upper portion of the posts along the portico.

Its façade is styled with double pavilions that crowns with a pediment and a tracery in a form of a “quatrefoil” used as a decoration for air vents.

The roofing is made from galvanized iron sheets, and the building's layout form is a letter "H." The whole idea is a school building built for the tropics, making use of local materials, which was abundant and accessible. It accommodated one class for every grade, up to grades seven, and it had a library and clinic.

The renovated building, which was used as garrison of Japanese soldiers during World War II, now houses modern classrooms and music and computer rooms, including a library and the principal’s office. (Mindanao Examiner)