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Zamboanga Chong Hua High School at 90: The Legacy Lives On
by Ric Villanueva
It was the year 1919.
A world tired of war was catching its breath and enjoying newfound peace. The First World War had ended and the father of today’s United Nations, The League of Nations, had just been formed.
The Philippines was under the sovereign control of the United States of America. All talk was of the 4th Far Eastern Championship Games which Manila was hosting. And also of the Senate or legislature elections that year under the Jones Law provisions where 92% of all registered voters voted.
In Zamboanga City down south, it was a turnover year for mayors. Mayor Alfonso Ramos was giving way to Crispin Atilano during the year. Zamboanga was a much smaller city then, much of today’s east and west coasts inaccessible by roads and land transportation. But it was growing.
Evidence of this growth was seen in four schools of learning in the city by this time. The Pilar College along Cawa-Cawa Boulevard had been going since 1894. Ten years later, in 1904, the Zamboanga Normal School, now the Western Mindanao State University, opened its doors. A year later, in 1905, it was the turn of the Zamboanga School of Arts and Trades, now the Zamboanga City Polytechnic State College, to open. The Jesuit School, the Ateneo de Zamboanga, followed seven years later in 1912.
Zamboanga City’s Chinese community, meanwhile, was steadily growing as well in size and numbers. A new generation of Chinese-descended children was coming up and the community felt it was time for a school that would offer formal education for its children and one that would honor and keep alive the Chinese heritage they cherished.
In 1919, sixteen elders, all Chinese aliens then, made the move and enshrined themselves and the school they gave birth to in the annals and memories of Zamboanga City. The founders of Zamboanga’s first Chinese school were Mr. Yu Bon Chia, Mr. Gam San Din, Mr. Yu Si Chiong, Mr. Wee Chu Ha, Mr. Uy Han Chiong, Mr. Tee Kee Biao, Mr. Tan Si Pan, Mr. Uy Kong Yuk, Mr. Chiong Ting Hong, Mr. Cheong Bu Kai, Mr. Lim Theng Si, Mr. Chiong Siong Tong, Mr. Yu Piu He, Mr. Tan Sit Pek, Mr. Uy Pek O, and Mr. Ong Bee Kong. With authority from E. M. Moyer, the American superintendent of schools then, the school opened.
In its infancy and early years, it operated with the full support of Chinese National Party members. Its initial objective was simple — to ensure that all children of Chinese nationals learned Mandarin. Later, the school geared its instruction towards enlightening students on the principles espoused by Dr. Sun Yat Sen. His birthday was November 12, later adopted as the school’s foundation day.
This orientation would continue until the last third of the century. As the world moved towards a one-China policy, Zamboanga’s Chinese school was also converted into a non-partisan community school to win the full support of the city’s entire Chinese Community.
The Zamboanga Chinese Elementary School rose at Magay Street — its main objective: to provide formal education for children of Zamboanga’s Chinese community. Over a hundred students immediately responded and became the school’s pioneer population.
The enthusiasm and growth of the Zamboanga Chinese Elementary School was dynamic and five years later, the original Magay school could no longer handle the influx of students. In 1924, it moved to a bigger lot along the old Jovellar Street, now Gov. Lim Avenue. A new school, a new location, and a new name as well for it was renamed the Zamboanga Chong Hua High School. And it was by now a high school. But the old name died hard. And the school bore the name Zamboanga Chinese High School for a long time.