SEVERINO DE LAS ALAS
The Department of Justice traces its beginnings at the Revolutionary Assembly
in Naic, Cavite on April 17, 1897. The establishment of a regime of law was
tasked to Don Severino delas Alas who headed the Department of Grace and
Justice.
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SEVERINO DE LAS ALAS (1851-1918)
A NOTED lawyer and educator, Severino de las Alas, the fourth regular delegate
of Cavite to the Malolos Congress, was born on January 8, 1851, in Indang,
Cavite, the son of illustrious parents, Eugenio de las Alas and Evarista Mojica.
After finishing his early education in his hometown, de las Alas continued
studies in the Letran College in Manila where he obtained a Bachelor in Arts
degree. He then transferred to the University of Sto. Tomas where he finished the
law course.
De las Alas was 45 when the Philippine Revolution broke out in 1896.
Abandoning a lucrative law practice, he joined the Revolution, assuming the
symbolic name Di-kilala (Unknown). One of the intellectuals originally identified
with the Magdiwang Council, de las Alas was appointed secretary of justice in
Aguinaldo’s “Cabinet of Reconciliation”, formed after Easter Sunday of 1897. It
was de las Alas report on the looting by the Bonifacio men in Indang that forced
General Aguinaldo o order the arrest of Katipunan Supremo and his followers in
Limbon, Indang.
In Tejeros Convention of March 22, 1897, de las Alas persuaded Bonifacio to
abandon the Magdiwang monarchical system of government in favor of the
republican system, hence the establishment of a revolutionary government in
place of Katipunan secret society.
De las Alas was the secretary of the interior the Paterno cabinet when General
Luna was assassinated in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, on June 5, 1899. Ordered
by General Aguinaldo to conduct an investigation, de las Alas reported that the
Luna killing was purely a “military collision” between Luna and the presidential
guards. The death of Luna and his aide, Col. Francisco Roman, according to de
las Alas, resulted from ‘the insulting and assaulting of the sentinel and guard of
the house of the Honorable President of the Republic (Aguinaldo), and the slurs
directed against the person of the latter, who was at the time absent in the
field…The sentinel and other guards made use of their arms to repel the unjust
aggression of General Luna and his aide, both of whom were instantly killed.”
After Aguinaldo’s treacherous capture in Palanan, Isabela, on March 23, 1901,
and realizing the futility of further resistance to superior American forces, de las
Alas, together with General Mariano Trias and Ladislao Diwa, surrendered to the
Americans the same year.
De las Alas ran for provincial governor of Cavite but lost out to General Mascardo.
He died on November 4, 1918, leaving behind his wife, Agripina Jeceil, and two
children, Teofilo and Guadalupe.
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On January 8, 1851, Severino de las Alas, one of the more prominent signatories
of the Biak-na-Bato Constitution, was born in Indang, [Link] Biak-na-Bato
Constitution, a replica of the Cuban Constitution signed on November 1,1897,
called for the separation of the Philippines from the Spanish [Link]
the Philippine Revolution, General Emilio Aguinaldo retreated to Biak-na-Bato,
San Miguel de Mayumo, Bulacan and established a republican government
known as the Biak-na-Bato Republic. De las Alas was later appointed director of
the interior of the Malolos Republic.
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january-8-1851-severino-de-las-alas-was-born-in-indang-cavite
CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY COMPANY HISTORY TIMELINE
1906
The Cavite State University (CvSU) has its humble beginnings in 1906 as the
Indang Intermediate School with the American Thomasites as the first teachers.
Several transformations in the name of the school took place; Indang Farm
School in 1918, Indang Rural High School in 1927, and Don Severino National
Agriculture School in 1958. In 1964, the school was converted into a State
College by virtue of Republic Act 3917 and became known as Don Severino
Agricultural College (DSAC).
The state university was first established by the Thomasites as an intermediate
school, named Indang Intermediate School in 1906 with C.E. Workman its first
principal. Subsequently, Americans Henry Wise and Joseph Coconower
succeeded Workman as the school's principal. In 1915, the school had its first
Filipino principal, Mariano Mondoñedo. The school's focused on vocational
agriculture for boys and domestic science for girls. In 1918, the name of the
school was changed to Indang Farming School.
1915
In 1915, the school had its first Filipino principal, Mariano Mondoñedo.
1927
As enrollment increased, the school site was expanded through the land
donations of the citizens of Indang, including Francisco Ocampo and Don
Severino de las Alas, Secretary of Interior during the Aguinaldo cabinet. In 1927,
the school was renamed Indang Rural High School, during the incumbency of
principal Simeon Madlangsakay. It first offered a secondary courses in vocational
agriculture in 1923 and Home Economics in 1927.
1958
In recognition of the generosity of Don Severino de las Alas to the community,
the province of Cavite and the nation, the name of the institution was changed
to Don Severino National Agricultural School in 1958 by a congressional action.
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