BRIEF HISTORY OF MANUEL G. ARAULLO HIGH SCHOOL

The Araullo High School is the former Manila High School that was established on June 11, 1906. The first of its kind in the capital city of the country, it was later given its present name and was soon followed by three other secondary schools also honoring justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.

The four original high schools in the city of Manila are, in alphabetical order to avoid any suspicion of favoritism, the Araullo High School, the Arellano High School, the Mapa High School and the Torres High School.

The Filipinos first appointed to the Supreme Court in 1901 were Cayetano Arellano, as Chief Justice, with Victorino Mapa and Florentino Torres as associate justices. Mapa was transferred to the Cabinet in 1913 but was returned to the Court as the next Chief Justice when Arellano retired in 1920.

Torres who was then the senior associate justice resigned out of amor propio when he was by-passed, probably because he was already 76 at that time. But as fate would have it, the younger Mapa retired after only one year and died ahead of him at age 73.

Manuel Araullo was already a legal institution upon his appointment as Chief Justice in 1921, having earlier occupied many judicial positions, especially as head of the Sala de la Civil of the Supreme Court organized by the American military authorities in 1899. Upon its abolition, he was widely expected to be appointed to the new Supreme Court but was overlooked for unknown reasons. He was the logical choice, however, to succeed Mapa and served with great distinction until his death in 1924. Manuel Araullo High School in Manila is named after him.

In 1930, the four schools were renamed after four famous Filipino jurists. Manila High School became Araullo High School while the three were Torres High School, Arellano High School and Mapa High School.

At the close of World War II, Araullo High School (Manila South High School) was ruined during the bombing of Intramuros. When schools reopened in 1946, Araullo High School occupied Quonset huts in Singalong with Mr. James P. Bums and Mr. Victor P. Hernandez as principal and assistant principal respectively.

After a short while, Araullo High School was transferred to Lukban Elementary School because the Singalong Site was to be reoccupied by the Epifanio delos Santos Elementary School. Later on, Araullo High School had put up an annex to accommodate its growing student’ population. TwoButler huts in Mehan Garden had an initial enrollment of 221 first year students. From Lukban Elementary School, it occupied the Bordner Building in Padre Faura.

Reference: AHS Class 1985 (n.d.). AHS History. Retrieved on 25th of August 2022. Retrieved from https://ahsbatch1985.ucoz.com/index/ahs_history/0-11.