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, 1819, leaving behind his wife, Agripina Jeceil, and two children,
Teofilo and Guadalupe.
[Sources: (1) Prominent
Caviteños in History. Copyright by Esteban A. de Ocampo, 1941; (2) Teodoro
A. Agoncillo, Malolos: The Crisis of the Republic. Quezon City,
University of the Philippines Press, 1960; (3) Emilio Aguinaldo, Mga Gunita
ng Himagsikan. Copyright by Mrs. Cristina Aguinaldo Suntay, 1964; and (4)
John R. M. Taylor, The Philippine Insurrection Against the United States.
5 vols. Pasay City, Eugenio Lopez Foundation, 1971. Vol. 4, Exh. 893, pp.
656-658.]