Catalino D. Sevilla

The 1977 manuscript ‘Ang Kasaysayan ng Lahing Sevilla ng Malabon-Navotas’ states that Catalino del Rosario Sevilla, descendant of root Felipe de Sevilla, became Rizal Provincial Governor in 1912. This is echoed on page 285 of the 1931 manuscript ‘Men of the Philippine Islands’. However, the official list of Rizal provincial governors does not list his name.

Are the two manuscripts wrong? No.

Catalino was deemed as having won the 04 June 1912 elections for Rizal Provincial Governor. However, he held this position for only about one (1) year. Mariano Concepcion Melendres, who had run for the same position, contested the election results in late 1912. The case reached the Supreme Court. In mid-1913, the Supreme Court ruled that Mariano had won ‘plurality of the votes legally cast’ for the position in question. On 24 July 1913, Governor-General Willam Cameron Forbes then signed Executive Order No. 54, which ordered Mariano to immediately assume the position of Rizal Provincial Governor.

The two manuscripts are correct. Catalino carried out his duties as Rizal Provincial Governor from June 1912 until Mariano was sworn in around July 1913. His name, however, is not on the list of Rizal provincial governors because it is Mariano who is officially recognized as having won the 1912 elections for Provincial Governor.

Malabon de Sevilla Tree Custodian, 2022'

Men of the Philippines: A Biographical Record of Men of Substantial Achievement in the Philippine Islands, Volume 1 (1931, p. 277)

Who's Who in the Philippines: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men of the Philippines, Volume II 1940-1941 (1940), by Franz J. Weissblatt (p. 174, Image 222)

Death certificate

Death register