The Pampangan, official organ of the student body of the Pampanga High School, was first published in August, 1926, with Mr. Eleno Salonga as editor and Mr. Ruperto Torres as faculty adviser. Long before that year the need for a school paper to record school activities and reflect student ideas had been felt, but lack of funds had not made such publication possible. The first issue was financed by voluntary contributions from the faculty members and was inspired by the copies of the Stockton (California) High School paper being received at the office of the principal, Mr. Harold T. Gewald.

The maiden issue was simple in all respects, what with the inconveniences of the printing press, the "Ing Katiwala," which was hand-operated, and the inadequacy of staff members. The editor was himself the contributor, typist, copyreader, and proofreader all combined. The name, "Pampangan," was given by him. There were four pages in the size of a tabloid with five columns. Articles consisted of news about the student activities, including sports, an editorial and a few literary articles. Five hundred copies were distributed to the students and faculty member, but all of these seem to have been destroyed as a result of the last war.

After some other issues, printing was done by the Loyal Press in Manila. Amando Dayrit had been added as assistant editor and Mr. Alfredo Feliciano as faculty business manager. In June, 1928, when Mr. Torres left for the United States as a government pensionado, Mr. Numeriano Garcia took his place as adviser. The next year Amando Dayrit became the editor, with Diosdado Macapagal editing the literary section. Student contributions to this section pointed out the growing enthusiasm in school paper work. That year the Pampangan gained prominence with the first-prize winning entry of Mr. Dayrit in the Free Press short story contest.

Under the subsequent editors-in-chief, the publication acquired additional sections and write-ups, with poetry capping the increasing literary contributions. The following headed the staff until the outbreak of the last war: Juan Cancio, Augusto Valdez, Igmidio Galang, Filadelfo Panlilio, Renato Tayag, Domingo Salita, Ruben Macapinlac, Conrado Magat, Marcelo Lagman, La Verne Mercado, Jesus Dimson and Hugo Gutierrez, Jr. Throughout this period, each issue averaged 1,000 copies, with extras coming out during the high school day celebrations and commencement days. Only in 1934-35 was the Pampangan publication disrupted, due to lack of funds. However, there was a commencement number, edited by Renato Tayag, and shouldered by the graduating class.

Outstanding achievement were made by the Pampangan and its staffers during this pre-war period. In November, 1931, the convention of the Public Secondary Schools Press Association, founded by a high school principal, Mr. Ricardo Castro, with 17 original member-schools, was held in Pasig, Rizal. In this conference of high school editors, Juan Cancio won second prize in editorial writing. At the press confab in Torres High School two years later, Zacarias Nuguid, Jr. got the first prize in sports writing. The Pampanga High School's turn to be the host of the conference was in December, 1938, wherein the Pampangan did not participate in the contests in accordance with the regulations.

The next site was San Fernando, La Union on December 2, 1939; here Jesus Dimson obtained the gold medal for best editorial on the subject, "Re-examination of the Philippine Question." Conrado Ocampo was likewise the first-prize winner in interview writing, while Benjamin Tantengco was second in sports writing. At the same time, the Pampangan brought home three third place awards in the group contests for the best news, literary and editorial sections. The next year, in Baguio City, the paper's staff bagged more prizes. The Pampangan ranked second in general points with the following prizes won: first place in editorial writing by Victoriano David, second in interview writing by Severino Cancio, third prize in sports writing by Martin Serrano; and in the group contests, second best news section, third best literary page, and third best sports section (tied with the Rizalian of Pasig). Adjudged first and third in general points among the 32 member-schools were the Nueva Ecija High School (The Granary) and Nueva Ecija Trade School (The Trade Journal) respectively. Other press conference sites were Cavite (1935), Tarlac (1936) and Cabanatuan (1937).

During the same period (preceding the war), variations on the usual tabloid form of the paper were made. In 1936, upon the suggestion of the principal, Mr. Demetrio Andres, it was published in magazine form. By that time Mr. Gaudencio Cajator had become the adviser, but Mr. Numeriano Garcia remained as financial adviser. After the second issue in 1938, the paper resumed its tabloid size, with the c commencement number in magazine form.

In context, too, the paper acquired additional touches. From four pages in 1926, it had grown to six pages and even eight at times. Pictorials assumed prominence to illustrate school scenes and events. In the literary page of the 1939-40 volume, a regular column was "Coeds in Rhymes," a poetical origination of Adoracion Gutierrez as Lord Brion, featuring the campus beauties of the time. The next year, it was continued by Agustin Talavera as Lord Brion, Jr, and still by Eliseo Canlas (Lord Brion III) in 1941 until the outbreak of the war at the end of the year. (This column still found its post-war counterpart in 1946-47 with the verses of Romeo J. Arceo.) In 1940 when Tagalog was taught for the first time to fourth year students, the Pampangan had a section for this subject, edited by Felimon Reyes. In the same year, Severino Cancio handled the first front-page editorialized column, entitled "Good Morning, Teacher," apparently patterned after the "Good Morning, Judge" column of an erstwhile editor who turned journalist, Amando Dayrit. At the same time, the Pampangan had a front-page editorial, in bold set. Cancio's column was continued the next year by Hugo Gutierrez, Jr. As the paper undertook changes in form and contents, it also had a new printer, the Ramon Roces Publications.

The Second World War, which suspended school functions, consequently gave a harder blow on the Pampangan. Precious copies of the pre-war volumes kept by the school, by the staff members who had worked hard to give it a name in press conferences, and by individual students, had been destroyed, leaving the salvaged copies a rarity among pre-war alumni. This has made an account on the paper's history incomplete.

While class were held in emergency capacity during the Liberation and shortly afterwards, the Pampangan had not resumed publication. Class histories of later years recounted the trying days of the Liberation classes with the dearth of writing materials, which accounted for the delayed resumption of the publication. In July, 1946 the Pampangan was revived, with Romeo J. Arceo as editor-in-chief. Articles dealt largely with that month's Independence Day. Mr. Ramon s. Nacu was the adviser, and printer was "Ing Katiwala" once more. On March 7 and 8, 1947, a delegation has sent to the conference of the reorganized Public Secondary Schools Press Association in Manila. Again, the staffers were compensated with the first prize victory of Fernando Camaya in the literary contest, participated in by the 49 member-schools.

At the next PSSFA convention in Baguio City on March 27-29, 1950, Feliciano Maninang, a third-year student who was managing editor, won fourth prize in newswriting participated in by 65 member-schools. Adviser of the Pampangan at the time was Mr. Clemente Pangan. A new section for Spanish had been added. Printer was M. E. Anatalio Press in Manila.

The next year, Miss Maria Q. Santos took over the advisership and held the position until she left for the United States as a scholar. Other editors-in-chief up to that time had been Paz Navarro, Feliciano, Maninang, Bernardo de Leon and Jose Velez. The paper was rated fifth best in the 1951 Cebu City Conference.

With the assumption of Miss Gervasia K. Guarin of the advisership in July, 1952, a position she has held up to the present, the Pampangan grew in several aspects, with more honors won in national secondary schools press conferences evidencing such development. In the 1952-53 volume edited by Agapito Espinoza, more columns were added - those for the vocational courses, the academics (where student scores in departmental tests were published), book and movie reviews, and health and physical education. Crossword puzzles also appeared as casual features, carried over from earlier volumes. Illustrations of literary articles appeared for the first time, with emphasis on the lay-out balancing. Scouting had prominent coverage in view of its being an innovation on the campus.

In 1953-54, the top students of the graduating class, Dalmacio Inventor, Cicero Punzalan and Armando Tala, composed an unprecedented board of editors chairmanned by the last-named editor. Each one had a regular column in the editorial section. The Exchanges column continued in this volume, with quotations or reprints from other school publications corresponding with the Pampangan. A special section on music was edited by Pablo Jimenez in view of the popularity of the high school symphony orchestra.

On January 10 and 11, 1955, the National Secondary Schools Press Conference (NSSPC) was held in Bacolod City, participated in by 70 member-schools. Under the new arrangement, the members were classified into two: Group A for those with an enrollment of 1,500 or more, and Group B for those with less than 1,500. The PHS, whose enrollment averaged 2,000, was grouped with the Manila City schools and bigger provincial high schools. The group contests on the best papers were judged on this classification, while individual writing contests were open to all regardless of the groupings. By technicality, the Pampangan was unable to participate in the group contests. The Chronicler of Arellano High School won the best paper award and consistently held the title up to the present. Rogelio Garcia, co-editor-in-chief with Artaxerxes Sampang, won sixth place in copyreading. In the same conference, the National Secondary Schools Press Advisers Association was organized which passed a resolution, among others, calling for authorization of the handling of school paper funds by the respective staff members, subject to accounting. Upon approval of the Bureau of Public Schools, this was implemented by the Pampangan. Another relevant resolution sought to lessen the teaching loads of teacher-advisers of school organs to enable them to devote more time to the paper.

The succeeding volume, with this writer as editor-in-chief, lost and acquired some features. The Spanish section was eliminated, as the language had become only an optional subject to fourth year students (it had been a required unit for juniors and seniors). On the other hand, additions made were the inclusion of illustrations on theTagalog section and cartoonized editorials on the second page. The front page editorialized column was revived with Edmundo Dizon's "Reflections." It was during this year when the Pampangan moved to its present office located at the basement beneath the principal's office. The old office had been a small southwestern corner of the library hall. A camera with a flash attachment was donated to the staff by the preceding editors.

The same staff members won for the paper its first awards in the present NSSPC in the group contests. The Pampangan got the third place in best lay-out or make-up and sixth in the news section. But more significant was the gold medal award of Rogelio Feliciano as best sports writer. In news writing, Edmundo Dizon won sixth place. There were 721 delegates to the convention, the biggest in the NSSPC history.

In the next conference, the Pampangan was placed in Group B, with others representing schools with 1,500 to 3,000 population. Schools with over 3,000 were classified Group A, and those below 1,500 in Group C. The Pampangan, with Oscar Mungcal, Jr. as editor-in-chief, was rated third best paper in its group, with the following awards: first place, sports page; first place, Tagalog section; and second place,literary page. In the individual contests, the editor-in-chief won fourth prize in copyreading and Juanito Figueroa, sixth in feature writing. For the first time the conference was held for a longer time, thereby enabling delegates to have longer educational tours, which have been regular parts of the conferences.

Notable changes in the paper's make-up during this volume were the inclusion of Tagalog news and feature write-ups and the addition of illustrations on literary articles in the same section.

The 1957-58 line-up gave the Pampangan its highest honors in the NSSPC. With Ernesto Pineda as editor-in-chief, the supremacy of the paper in Group B was attained. The Best Paper award was received in view of the following group contest prizes: first places in literary, sports and Tagalog sections; second in editorial; third in lay-out, and fifth in news. In the individual contest, Leticia Macapagal was gold medalist in Tagalog feature writing for non-Tagalog delegates, while Rita Guevarra was sixth best in English feature writing. The conference held in Dumaguete City on February 10-15, 1958, was attended by more than 500 delegates. It gave the Pampangan its biggest harvest of awards in years.

Changes on the paper's size and contents were made during this eventful year. The columns were increased from five to six for the regular issues (the Christmas and commencement numbers remained in magazine format). A modified features section was created, with a series of articles on the province of Pampanga and other human interest subjects.

In the 1958-59 volume wherein Felicito Bautista was editor-in-chief, the Pampangan was regrouped with the Manila city high schools in Group A. Schools with more than 2,000 population were placed in this group; the rest were in Group B, for those with 1,000 to 2,000 population and Group C, for those with less than 1,000. In spite of the stiffer competition with schools where journalism is a subject in the curriculum, the Pampangan was rated Third Best Paper, thus surpassing three veteran winners of Manila. The group prizes were second place in literary page, fourth in news and sports, and fifth in lay-out. In the individual contests among the 702 delegates, Velia Capati emerged second placer in copyreading.

During this school year, a Public Schools Circular was passed authorizing the soliciting of advertisements to finance school papers, under certain conditions.

The Pampangan volume for 1959-60 set records in school papers, and in the history of the staff. For the first time since Paz Navarro's editorship in 1949-50, a girl was chosen editor-in-chief. At the same time the various sections were dominated by female editors. For the first time also, the paper was printed in seven columns. This volume pioneered the colored pictorial on the news (front-page) section never before adopted by any member of the national secondary schools press association. The first issue of the "Sinukuan" as a paper separate from the Pampangan was published this school year. Advertisements began to be published pursuant to the preceding year's circular. These appeared in the pages of the "Sinukuan," thereby financing four of its pages, the other two being financed by the school paper (the Pampangan) funds.

The press conference for the school year was held in Cagayan de Oro on February 1-5, 1960, where the Pampangan was adjudged fourth best paper in Group A, on the basis of the following group prizes: tied for second and third with the Gazette in lay-out; fourth in news, Tagalog and sports; and fifth in literary and editorial sections. Equally outstanding were the results of the individual contests: Paul Lacson received the gold medal in sports writing; Anita David had two bronze medals in two of her contests, news and heading writing, thereby becoming second highest pointer among the delegates.

The subsequent year saw a third year student heading the line-up as editor-in-chief for the first time, Benjamin Ferrer. At the press conference held in Tagbilaran, Bohol on January 30 - February 3, 1961, the Pampangan and the Sinukuan lost their usual standings in the first six best papers. Nevertheless, there were four prizes: fourth places in sports section and lay-out; and in the individual contests, fifth place in headline writing by Eleanore Juat, and sixth place in Tagalog feature-writing by Lea Tala.

In 1961-62, the Pampangan's printer was the Munoz Press. The staff was headed by a board of editors composed of third and fourth year students. They represented the paper in the conference held in Iligan City on February 12-16, 1961. Again losing its usual standing, the Pampangan still won prizes. The lone award in group competition was a second place in sports page. Individual winners were Julia Meneses, second placer in English feature writing; Armando Guarin, fourth in headline writing; and Leticia Dantes, sixth in headline writing.

The year's [1962] line-up, headed by Armando Guarin, hopes to regain the paper's former status and maintain its present record. But win or lose in succeeding press conferences, the Pampangan shall always be represented by young men and women working for the paper's tradition as the mouthpiece of the student body and an exponent of democracy on the campus.