Mindanaotoday.com |By: RAI Bollozos Sanchez
Hi there!
I am always fascinated with Gabaldon Buildings for their captivating architectural design, and it is not only known for their timeless grace but stood proudly reflecting the educational history of the Philippines. Relating to the latter, nestled Cagayan de Oro has a few remaining Gabaldon Buildings, and the most known is the City Central School, nestled amidst verdant surroundings and a testament to a bygone American school architectural era.
After the fighting between the Filipino revolutionaries and the Americans ended, the problem that the latter faced in pursuing the opening of public education in the islands was a tough one. The Bureau of Education faced a challenge organizing the public school system, training Filipino teachers, and providing the necessary school building and facilities. According to the Americans, school buildings during the Spanish period were made from temporary structures, poorly built and made of light materials and poorly ventilated—unsuitable for education.
The need for school buildings necessitated legislation from the Philippine Insular Government, and on December 28, 1907, the Philippine Assembly passed Act. No. 1801, or the Gabaldon Law, allocated 1,000,000 pesos to construct primary school buildings in the barrios. Subsequently, two more acts amended Act No. 1801, and these were Acts. Nos. 1914 and 1974 providing an allotment of 4,000 pesos, and the erection of the schools must be owned by the municipal, provincial, or Insular Governments. On February 2, 1911, Act No. 2029 appropriated another 1,000,000 for the construction of School Buildings in the municipalities and barrios under the same conditions from Act 1801 but increased the allotment from 4,000 to 5,000.
After the passage of these laws, designed by the consulting architect of the Bureau of Public Works, William Parsons, the Bureau of Education adopted a policy for the construction of these school buildings and prepared a set of “Standard Plans” for permanent structures following a “unit system” in construction that can be modified without damaging the original “standard plan.” Hence, adopting the concept of building a schoolhouse with each classroom should have a standard size of 7×9 meters. For example, Plan no. 1 contains one building of 7 meters by 9 meters classroom and can accommodate 50 pupils, while Plan no. 2 has 1 structure with two 7×9 meters classrooms each, and the rest of the building units follow.
Inaugurated on August 28, 1916, through the efforts of municipal mayor Uldarico Akut, the building of the Cagayan Central School followed Standard Plan No. 10 and had 6 classrooms, including an assembly room, a storeroom, and an office. The assembly room has space equivalent to three classrooms making the building capable of having 9 classrooms suitable for large central schools, especially in large towns like Cagayan Misamis. When it was built, however, the Cagayan Central School was a modified Standard Plan No. 10 with two additional classrooms from 1916-1917.
Like the one in City Central School, the Gabaldon Building is significant to the Philippines’ architectural and educational history. Despite research limitations, online archiving played a crucial role in gathering the necessary corroboration of primary sources to write this short history. The internet is a plethora of providing access to photographs, blueprints, and documents allowing the detailed study of the architectural plan of the City Central School using the design principles of Gabaldon Buildings. These structures stand as critical cultural landmarks ensuring their stories continue inspiring future Kagay-anons in embarking on local history.
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