STA. CRUZ ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

HISTORY

Barangay Sta. Cruz is one of the coastal barangays in the eastern part of Ballesteros, Cagayan. It is 1.5 kilometers away from the poblacion. So far, it is the biggest among the 5 barangays in the eastern part of Ballesteros in terms of land area and population.

Before Ballesteros became an independent municipality, it was originally called “Sta. Cruz”, a Spanish term meaning “Holy Cross”, of which at that time was only one among the barangays of the municipality of Abulug.

“Barangay Sta. Cruz” got its name from a big Molave Cross which marked the boundary line of the Municipality of Abulug and the Municipality of Aparri. It was on January 1, 1912 when Sta.Cruz got separated from the Municipality of Abulug and became an independent town, now known as the Municipality of Ballesteros. However, “ Sta. Cruz” was never erased in the historical map of Ballesteros for it was retained and used to name our present barangay, probably because it is within this area, specifically at the junction now, where the big Molave Cross was situated. Hence, the inauguration of Ballesteros as an independent municipality is also the birth of “Barangay Sta. Cruz.”

Being situated along the sea cost of Ballesteros, Barangay Sta. Cruz is greatly blessed with fine beaches where everybody can relax and enjoy the sea breeze gently coming from the Balintang Channel. Taking advantage of its location, most of the community folks are engaged in fishing, farming, cattle and hog raising, while some others are engaged in small scale industries.

The separation of Sta. Cruz from the Municipality of Aparri to be a part of the Municipality of Ballesteros brought more people to migrate in this place which paved a way for the establishment of “Sta. Cruz Primary School” in the year 1958 with a handful of Grade I and Grade II enrollees. The school lot, with a total land area of 12, 240 square meters, was donated by the family of the late Attorney Auvifer Ruelos, a very generous family from Barangay Sta. Cruz.

Gradually, the population had grown in number and in 1971, Sta. Cruz Primary School became a acomplete elementary school with only four (4) teachers handling combination classes in four instructional classrooms. It was in the year 1977 when Sta. Cruz Elementary School was fully established into 1:1 teacher-class ratio with six (6) teachers headed by a full-fledged school administrator.