Divina Pastora College was born out of a long-felt need -a high
school amore
accesible to students from the poblacion, as the only high school in
Gapan at
that time was one kilometer away, and one that would develop not not
only the
mind and the body but the spiriy as well.
Encourage by the late Rev. Msgr. Pacifico Araullo who had put up a
school in
his parish in Cabanatuan City, the Rt. Rev. Msgr. Paterno E. Bernabe,
Gapan
Parish priest, and a group of prominent lay leaders -among them Mrs.
Marta
Cuison, Dr. benedicto C. Caba?? Do??aria Payawal, Mayor Manuel
Mallare and
Judge Manolo Reyes -decided to open Gapan's parochial high
school.
In 1958, the group sought and received permission from the late
Archbishoop
Emillio Cinense of San Fernando, Pampanga whose diocese then had
jurisdiction
over Gapan, to put up the Divina Pastora Academy (DPA), named after
town's
patron saint. After complying with the legal requirements, the Buruae
of Private
Schools of the Department of Education authorized the opening of the
school's
first and second year levels in 1959,
At the start of the operation of DPA, Msgr. Bernabe as the school
director,
invited the CFIC Sisters from St. Joseph's College in Quezon City. to
help run
the school The sister came over and converted the parish rectory partly
as their
living quarters and partly as school building.
Many older alumn still fondly remember the names of those pioneer
teachers
-the soft spoken Mother Bernadette, the musically-minded teacher Sister
Alacoque, the feisty Sister Nicoleta Datayan, the school's first
principal, who
struck fear among the students despite her small physique, and Miss Paz
Esquivel, a lay teacher.
In 1960, the Kindergarten Departmentwas opened with Sr. Henriette
Palomike as
its first teacher.
In 1967, the school administration opted to widen the academy's
service to
high school graduates from poor families who wanted to pursue higher
education.
Mr. Antonio Santiago, the assistant principal together with some
Franciscan
Sisters sought permission from the Buruae of Private Schools to open
Baccalaureatte degree courses in Arts, Eduacation, Commerce and Junior
Secretarial. Thus, the College Department was created, receiveng irs
authority
to operate in 1968. With this came a change in the name of the school
of to
Divina Pstora College.
Msgr. Bernabe, after serving the parish for some three decades, voluntarily resigned as school head due to his advance age and failing health. The Bishop of Cabanatuan, Vicente P. Reyes, assigned the Rev. Fr. Lamberto Bundoc to ake aocer as sc