FACOMA… my school

by Tara Tuquiero
(as published 4 years ago in MVP)

Our Principal and teachers

I am sure that most of you remember Facoma as a tobacco vending point, while some may remember it as a military headquarter.  But for me, it will be remembered as my school --- The Magsingal National High School!

Yes, The Magsingal National High School (MNHS) now stands where the Facoma (which is the acronym of Farmers Cooperative Market) used to be.  And although Facoma no longer exists, people still refer to The MNHS as Facoma.  But it doesn’t matter, it took me some time to realize that colgate is just another brand of a toothpaste! I used to hear kasi people saying, “pabili nga po ako ng colgate, yung close-up po ha.”  O kaya, “tinto man gatangen tayo nga frigidaire ket tay Hitachi, namadi kano diay frigidaire nga  Westinghouse.” hehehe… Although it is not really a big deal if people refer to MNHS as Facoma, I am sure that later on they will get used to calling MNHS as The Magsingal National High School.

The establishment of the Magsingal National High School was approved on 09 October 1997 through Republic Act 8355 and the school held its first classes on 1998.  The school principal, Mr. George Urubio is doing a good job in maintaining the school’s operations, with the assistance of the faculty members.

I hear some people say, ‘students from public schools do not learn as much as those from private schools’.  I believe that this is not always true, ang kaalaman ng estudyante depends on the teacher and the enthusiasm and ability of the student to learn.  Although the salaries of teachers in the public schools may not be as competitive as those in private schools, we now have a lot of good teachers who devote themselves to educating the children in the public schools.  I am proud to be a product of the Magsingal National High School because the MNHS is blest with excellent teachers, and I know deep in my heart that I definitely learned a lot from them.

It’s been said that public schools are schools for the poor. Perhaps this could be true because you don’t pay for the tuition fees and books.  But the downside of this is – you have to content yourself with old books, or share the book with someone else. The MNHS is not an exception to this dilemma.  I remember when I was still studying there I had to share 1 book with my 2 classmates.  So when we have a quiz, we have to wait for the first student to finish the quiz before the 2nd student could start hers, and so on with the 3rd student.  Sometimes, we would go out of the classroom and borrow books from the other sections.

Although the MNHS has a computer laboratory, the ten computers provided by the Department of Education have to be shared by the 34 students in the class.  Sometimes it would take us 2 to 3 days to finish our lesson because the teacher wants each member of the class to have equal hands-on lesson on the computer.

It could be true that MNHS is a school for the poor.  Prior to one of the school’s Christmas parties, our principal announced that we will wear the school uniform during the said party.  With the principal’s desire to have all the MNHS students join in with the merriment, the wearing of the uniform will remove any hesitation from the students to attend the party because they do not have party clothes.

But these hinder blocks cannot intimidate the MNHS students from competing against the other schools in the Ilocos Region, public or private, academic or otherwise.  And we had ‘brought the bacon home’ on many occasions.  I am sure that with the continued dedication of our teachers in sharing their expertise and with their guidance, the Magsingal National High School will soon soar to unreachable heights.

It is acknowledged that MNHS still needs a lot of help from the government, still needs a lot of improvement, particularly with its library, more books and more computers.  And yes, perhaps, it is true that MNHS is a school for the poor, but the wisdom gained by its students is abounding.

Before I close, I would like to thank my mother for giving me the freedom to go to the school of my choice – Magsingal National High School, I am proud of you.