Kristoffer Pasion#TodayinHistory in 1870, Jose Alejandrino (José Cándido Alejandrino y Magdangal), Filipino revolutionary general, writer, diplomat for the 1st #PH Republic, & framer of the 1899 & 1935 PH constitutions, was born in Arayat, Pampanga.
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Born to a well-to-do family, Alejandrino was enrolled in the Ateneo de Municipal, garnered his Bachelor of Arts in Universidad de Santo Tomas, & continued his studies in Spain. While in Spain, he became one of the writers of La Solidaridad and was an activist for the Propaganda Movement, campaigning for Filipino representation in the Spanish Cortes. Alejandrino was instrumental in copyediting the manuscript of his friend, Rizal's El filibusterismo before it was published in Ghent in 1891.
Alejandrino joined the #Katipunan. Upon the outbreak of the #PH Revolution in 1896, he initiated the procurement of arms from Japan via Hong Kong. When revo leaders were voluntarily exiled to HK via Pact of Biak-na-Bato, Alejandrino welcomed them there. Upon the resumption of PH Revo vs. Spain, Alejandrino was w/ U.S. Adm. George Dewey in the Battle of Manila Bay. Soon after, he became a delegate in the Malolos Congress, provisionally representing Catanduanes through Aguinaldo's appointment.
He, together w/ Antonio Luna & allies, were instrumental in the insertion of the Separation of church & state principle in the Malolos Constitution, promulgated in Jan 1899. He also supported Luna in the standardization of the uniform of Filipino troops. W/ the outbreak of the Philippine-American War on 4 Feb 1899 a few weeks after the formal establishment of the 1st #PH Republic, Alejandrino, as army chief engineer commanded troops, & designed trenches vs. Americans in Bulacan & Caloocan.
He was forced to surrender a month after the chain of command's capitulation, when US soldiers captured Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo at Isabela in 1901. Alejandrino, while having surrendered, brought the fight of independence from the battlefield to politics. In 1923, he was appointed by the controversial U.S. Gov Gen Leonard Wood (by virtue of Jones Law of 1916) as senator of the 12th sen. district. Alejandrino would also serve as a delegate of the 1934 Con-Con that drafted the 1935 Constitution.
