Unluckily for teachers, salaries were not paid regularly due to the fact that public secondary schools ran in the barrios at that time were not yet incorporated in the national budget. Few teachers (including volunteer elementary teachers) governed by the commitment to serve, to mentor and to develop the poor but deserving youngsters continued to stay. As a result, they survived the ordeal by holding monthly benefit dance to get a fraction of their income and occasionally donations from some politicians and barangay officials.

During the administration of the late barangay captain, Elias A. Vagallon, his small monthly stipend from the barrio was voluntarily offered to the high school and equally shared by the teachers. But many of these teachers who were breadwinners in their own families considering finding better pastures decided to transfer to some private schools like Butuan City Colleges, Urios College and Agusan Colleges, which at that time were prominent high school counterparts.

Others crept their way out to Agusan High School with several of them becoming master teachers, department heads and a principal (in the person of Mrs. Corazon Cang who retired from that school as Principal IV.) The only teacher who never left Libertad NHS was the retired PE teacher, Mrs. Vitaliana Dumanon Aquino.

The first batch of graduates took place in 1970. However, the following four years, 1971 to 1974, the school was enforced to close down the third year and fourth year levels for lack of teachers. The students in these levels at the same time were forced to complete their education in Agusan High School or other schools in the city while the rest just stopped for lack of funds.

The Barrio Council headed again by Barangay Captain Elias Vagallon with the elementary principal, Mr. Flaviano A. Garsuta (retired assistant regional director of DepEd Caraga) in its effort to sustain the operation of the high school, lobbied relentlessly with the city government to save the school.

True enough, the mayor made a commitment to rescue the school by providing salaries to the teachers until the time that the nationalization of all barangay high schools in the country was implemented. This is how barangay high schools transcended to become nationalized high schools. New teachers applied in Libertad and did wonderful job by producing many students who became scholars in their tertiary years and excellent leaders and responsible citizens of their communities in their adult years. One of these products is the former barangay captain, Bernard S. Encarnado, who is also the undefeated president of the Alumni Association for about five years.

The school did not have buildings of its own when it started its operation until circa 1970’s. Its first structure is the Marcos type prefabricated building of four rooms. All first year classes were housed here while the rest of the sections were still squatters in the elementary rooms. Seeing the need for the exclusivity of the school ground and all facilities, the elementary school through the principal finally issued to the high school a one hectare piece of land located at the northwestern section which then was not used by the elementary. Finally in 1990, the SEDP added to the high school three more buildings of two classrooms each. This time the elementary school closed its doors to the high school.

Physical development took a long tedious route to see the result of what Libertad National High School is today. All school administrators moved heaven and earth to overhaul the school site from swampy to solid ground and put up the necessary development.

Year 1990 was the first time the school became independent but with nothing to start with except the buildings and books.

The one hectare place was described as a swamp and an open grazing ground for carabaos and goats owned by farmers living nearby. The whole neighborhood then used both elementary and high school premises as shortcut passage from the highway to the puroks or vice versa. What was awful was that unscrupulous people also exploit both schools as haven for criminal acts during evenings like gang initiation, pot sessions, and drinking spree. Most of the destruction of school structures and facilities including burglary were the result of their folly. One shocking incident happened to a young working college student who was dragged from the highway to the school stage and gang raped by about 20 youngsters. Another horrible incident was a grenade explosion that took place at about 9 p.m. at the back of the Library that wasted a young man’s life. There are many other untold tales but all these have been taken as serious reasons for enclosing the schools from intruders.

The first school administrator, Mrs. Josefina Caňusa Butcon, then Teacher-in-Charge (presently Principal II of Taligaman NHS), took the first step to fence the portion (where the buildings were) with wooden sticks to motivate purok residents to find other trails. The effort in effect delineated ownership of the premises. Mrs. Butcon was the one who tackled all the burdens of independence. She left the school in 1995 for promotion as Principal I of Agusan Pequeňo National High School.

The next administrator, Mrs. Jacinta Layugan Pizarro, came to Libertad National High School in 1995; she turned the place upside down just like the Cinderella story. Using her expertise in the academics and social influence she was able to extract stakeholders from all sources for the improvement of the impoverished school.

Previously the MOOE was not obtainable to cater the needs for physical development. Mrs. Pizarro did not rely on that but went to the city government, the Sangguniang Barangay of Libertad and all agencies on hand to secure support. During her administration she was able to define the exact school area by utilizing a geodetic engineer, Regino Lomarda, a parent, who became an incidental stakeholder. He was the one who identified the boundaries and found out that the whole place is not just one hectare per se but has 316 square meters more to it.

Her next move was to fill the empty space which is now the playground with sand and gravel, and unfortunately, there was no money that could be extracted from the DepEd for this matter.

However, under her leadership again, she led the teachers and parents out from their comfort zones towards entreating support from all agencies, or corporations they could find on their way, including individuals, to donate a truckload or truckloads of sand and gravel. Using the students and parents as sand carriers from the highway to the interior part of the campus, slowly, the work was finished. Indeed it’s no wonder that those poor students named the school as Libertad National HAKOT! Her last decisive move was to put around the perimeter fence. Using teachers and parents again as runners and solicitors, every block had been put in place surrounding the school. The main gate was also transferred at the Balanghai Road and pathways were created to make the former muddy ones comfortable way to walk on. The accomplishments were short-lived because Mrs. Pizarro left the school when she was promoted as Principal IV of Agusan National High School.

She was followed by Mrs. Modesta Tejeda Malicay. It was during her time that the school was declared by the DepEd as one of the five empowered high schools in Butuan City so that most of her work was focused on the preparation and production of all requirements and activities that would meet the provisions for Libertad NHS to become an empowered school. Her contribution to Physical Development is the putting up of a computer laboratory in the school and other facilities and the transfer of the Principal’s office to another building. Being an English major, she made English teachers handle school paper job. She was promoted as the next Principal IV of Agusan National High School when Mrs. Pizarro retired. She left the school during the year 2000.

Next to Mrs. Malicay is the dynamic Teresita Perez Tranquilan, Principal I of Agusan Pequeňo National High School. She improved everything left unfinished or undone by the previous principals. This was the time the school started to participate extensively in competitions called for by the division, regional or national front. Ma’am Tranquilan revolutionized the academic performance of the teachers and squeezed out their unexposed skills to be able to train potential students for any competition. This was also the time the school was printed on the limelight of recognition for placing as the first 120 best performing high schools in the country for five consecutive years starting 2003.

Mrs. Tranquilan (with the same style Mrs. Pizarro did in refurbishing the school), solicited from the community more truckloads of sand and gravel to fill up the low playground.

Her accomplishment landmarks were evident in the intensive implementation of Project Shine, maintaining high performance in the NAT, putting up of additional structures, and concreting of the pathways. She could roll herself from a cowboy to executive suit to see things around the TLE & industrial toils done at the back of the school and to see things done properly in office. However, Ma’am Tessie did not stay long to see her dreams fully realized in Libertad NHS. After passing the CSE-MATB Tests she was promoted as OIC Assistant Schools Division Superintendent of Butuan City.

The current school administrator had his first assignment at Lumbocan National High School as principal. Mr. Eduardo G. Corro came to Libertad in year 2006 just in time to tackle different challenges left by the previous administrators. His first move was to put up more classrooms along the in-betweens of buildings, widening of pathways, providing teachers a faculty room, putting up of catwalk from the main gate to the JICA building and many others which the previous administrators left untouched. His great accomplishment is the setting up of a local post office at the entrance of the school to cater the community with postal services.

It is during his administration that the school has experienced a very comfortable environment where mud and murky ground don’t anymore stink in any student’s shoes. His job is more decisive and vital because he begins to modernize the once impoverished school and maintain its prestige as one of the high performing high schools in the country.

What have come to Libertad now are all answers to the many prayers and tears in the past. The community of Libertad is a witness as to how this school metamorphosed from a hopeless worm to a dignified educational organism now. Indeed, the destitution of the past became the springboard to increase the desire to improve. The school is grateful to all the administrators who have offered their unreserved leadership in providing the school the endurance to move on. To the teachers who supported these administrators, the parents and stakeholders who never backed out in their commitment to help, to them the school is ever grateful and in great debt.

From the account of:

ELEANOR VAGALLON-CARILLO

Dept. Head, Values Education

Date: October 14, 2011

5:30 p.m

In school year 2013-2014, Mr. Eduardo G. Corro was promoted to Principal IV and should be assigned to Agusan National High School. His post in Libertad NHS was taken by Mrs. Regina A. Andaya, the principal of Banza National School. It was during her administration that the seasoned teachers of Libertad NHS retired in the person of Mrs. Eleanor V. Carillo, the Head Teacher for Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao; Mr. Angel Rufino G. Elloso, a Master Teacher II from the Science department, Mr. Mateo Plaza from the Araling Panlipunan department and Mr. Hilario Corrompedo a Master Teacher I from TLE department. Other seasoned teachers were assigned as school head namely, Miss Hazel P. Yabo and Mr. Levi Balbarino.

In the second year of her administration was the implementation of the Senior High School of the K12 program. Some of the seasoned teachers transferred to the Senior High like Mrs. Perez, Mrs. Dispo and Mrs. Nono as Academic Track Head. It was also due to the K12 program that many teachers from the private schools were hired and were assigned here in Libertad NHS. Thirty classrooms for the Senior High School were constructed during this time.

Blessings pour out in the third year of Mrs. Andaya’s administration. Many teachers who came from Libertad NHS were assigned as school heads passed the Principal’s Test. They were Mrs. Ella Mae Arcinal, the former department head of the science department and was assigned in Pareja Integrated High School; Mrs. Hazel Yabo, an English teacher who was assigned as school head of Consuelo National High School; Mr. Levi Balbarino who was assigned as school head of Aupagan High School; Mr. Emmanuel Rey Casindac and Mr. Reylan R. Alas who was assigned in the Regional Office. It was also in this year that Mrs. Andaya was honored as the outstanding principal by the Division Office.

The retirement of Mr. Corro paved the way for Mrs. Andaya to be assigned as the principal of Butuan City School of Arts and Trade (BCSAT) whose principal Mr. Ruel Gabor took the place of Mr. Corro. To take Andaya’s place in Libertad National High School is Mr. Dennis R. Roa, Doctor in Public Administration (DPA) whose previous assignment was from Amparo National High School.

His arrival in Libertad NHS last May 22, 2018 draws some excitements and apprehensions. After two months since his arrival, he was able to erase the apprehensions of many teachers by providing many solutions to the many problems the school had encountered which were not answered before.

He is responsible in providing the school with five rainwater collectors to solve the water problem of the school; levelling off the school ground; facilitating the installation of two transformers to prevent electrical overloading as well as in the construction of the Science and Computer Laboratories and most of all, in making the school clean and presentable to its stakeholders. By pushing the TVL teachers, the Division Office awarded Libertad SHS as one of the schools here in Butuan City division to have a functional TVL laboratories. Before his one-year anniversary as principal of Libertad NHS, he was awarded as the outstanding principal for school year 2018-2019 together with his wife Dr. Corazon P. Roa as the outstanding Education Program Supervisor of the Division office.

There are a lot of works to be done here in Libertad NHS but Mr. Roa just keep on smiling for he knows he can do it especially when Mr. Reylan R. Alas was assigned last November 2018 as his new assistant principal.

Before school year 2018 2019 ends, Mr. Roa together with the PTA president Pastor Jezreel Pagaura beautified the entrance gate of the school with school name signage made of aluminum and cemented a pathway going to the covered court for where the teachers, administrators and graduating students will have their processional during graduation day. Not only the school gate was being beautified by Dr. Roa but also the career of Mrs. Ivy Hontalba, Mr. Mark De Lima; Mrs. Marilou Bardoquillo, and Mrs. Helen Makinano were promoted as Master Teacher 1.

Libertad NHS was in high spirits when it qualifies for Regional validation namely, the search for Eco-Friendly School, Brigada Eskwela Implementer and School – Based Management. The high spirits of teaching and non-teaching staff puff just like water bubbles; did not last for long.

On the first week of classes of June 2019, Libertad NHS was caught in surprise when news broke out that Assistant Principal Mr. Reylan Robles Alas will be transferred to Bugsokan Integrated School but later reassigned to Baan Riverside Integrated School. To take his place was Dr. Wilma Nicolasora Canson, from Agusan National High School.

On the second week of June 2019, Libertad NHS was again caught in great surprise when it was announced by our dear principal Dr. Roa that he will be transferred to Butuan City School of Arts and Trade (BCSAT). To take his place was Mrs. Avelina Joson Galgo, principal III from Lumbocan National High School.

During the administration of Mrs. Galgo, the office of the principal, the records office as well as the accounting office transferred near the main gate of the school. Moreover, the ICT and Science laboratory building as well as the four classroom workshop were turned over by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Before the school year ends, the computer laboratory transferred to the new ICT building. To occupy the old computer building is the supply office under the care of Lycel Escuyos. She was able to excellently arrange and organize the supply office. It was during the time of Mrs. Galgo that Mr. Reynaldo Floreta was promoted to Head Teacher 1; Mrs. Genalyn Dispo was promoted to Head Teacher 2; and Mrs. Sharon Pomera was promoted to Head Teacher 3. Before the fiscal year ends, Mrs. Galgo was honored as the Outstanding Principal of the Division of Butuan City.

It was on the summer of school year 2020 and 2021 that Mrs. Mitchel Ocladina from EsP department was accepted to the Philippine National Police while Mr. Rodrigo H. Madelo, Jr. was appointed by the School Division Superintendent as the new school head of Alviola Integrated Secondary School located at the back of F. R. Sibayan Elementary School.

From the account of:

Mr. Reynaldo M. Floreta

EsP Dept. Head

March 19, 2021