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Community Profile
Barangay Palapas was formerly named as "Calagimit”, which was taken from the name of a river found in
the place called "Calagimit River''. Because of the construction of a concrete spillway that causes the water to
flow down, later on, the place was changed to "Palapas,” a Bicol term for spillway, hence the name PALAPAS.
Palapas is bounded on the north by Barangay Bacong, on the south by Barangay Palapas-Pioduran,
Barangay Balanac on on the east, and on the west by Barangay Abella. It has a total land area of 623.39
hectares, with 1,733 population, 399 households/families and 7 purok as of August 2016.
The first families who settled in the barangay are the Oxales, Bismonte, Buag, Orpiano, Garcia, Remondavia
and the Payopas. People of this place are kind, industrious and approachable. The religion in the place is
Roman Catholicism, Seventh Day Adventist, Jehovah's Witnesses and Born Again. Majority of the people
believed in faith, healing and other superstitions. The people speak the Bicol-Ligao dialect.
Farming is their main source of income. Some are also engaged in livestock raising for a living.
School History
Palapas Elementary is an upland elementary school of Ligao South District which is 26 km away from the city
proper. It has a land area of 20,000 square meters and came to its operation in 1948. In its first year of
operation, there were only 30 pupils enrolled and one (1) teacher in the person of Julian Señora. The school
site was donated by Josefina Belmonte Duran, a resident of the Municipality of Guinobatan, Albay in October
1, 1976.
Because of its vast scope of children from the different barangays of Ligao and Pioduran, it became the first
Principal School in the upland schools of Ligao.
The opening of secondary school (Palapas National High School) in the barangay caused the division of the
lot area donated to the school where the 10,000 square meters was given to the secondary school. Nearby
barangays open up elementary schools that resulted to the deterioration of its enrolment.
The school site has nine (9) classrooms, one (1) room for the library and storage, one (1) feeding room/center
and one (1) Text2Teach room. These school buildings and rooms need continuous repair to effectively give a
child-friendly, safe and conducive learning environment for all its clientele.
The school offers complete elementary with a total of 10 classes including the Kindergarten Program. At
present, it has an enrolment of 367 pupils from Kinder to Grades VI. All the teachers are regular and
permanent, of which, one (1) is Teacher III and seven (9) are occupying Teacher I position and the school is
headed by a School Principal I.
Palapas Elementary School can be travelled by land where jeepneys and motorcycles are very common
service providers in the locality. The pupils and parents are engaged in different works, namely: operating a
mini sari-sari store and karihan or karenderia (mini-food outlet/restaurant), buying and selling fish, engaging in
farming and doing manual labor. Some are resident-community workers especially those in teaching while
others are working out of the city, province, region, and country. Mostly, the pupils belong to a poor family with
no permanent sources of income.
The school had experienced devastating floods and strong winds like that one brought by Typhoon Sisang,
Reming Ondoy, and Yolanda when school properties were wrecked and destroyed. Some classrooms were
already demolished, replaced and repaired. At present, for almost 68 years, the school has no covered court
or multi-purpose hall yet where students could safely and comfortably hold and attend school activities,
trainings and workshops, making this facility as an urgent need of the pupils.
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SCHOOL |
