The Department of Justice was born during the Revolutionary Assembly in Naic, Cavite on 17 April 1897. The pursuit of the mandate to establish a regime of law fell on the shoulders of Don Severino delas Alas, who was named Secretary of Grace and Justice. As Spanish sovereignty was drawing to a close, it was reorganized in Kawit, Cavite under the decree dated 26 September 1898 of Gen, Emilio Aguinaldo. During the American occupation of the Philippines, the Department of Justice was named at different times, as the Office of the Attorney of the Supreme Court, the Office of the Attorney General and as the Department of Finance and Justice. The Department was established in 1916 by the Americans and continued to function as such under Commonwealth Government. In 1942, the Japanese invaders transformed the Department into a commission and under their puppet government, into a Ministry. In 1946, the Department of Justice was born under the Philippine Republic. When the parliamentary system of government was set up in 1973, the Department was again named into a Ministry. In 1986, EDSA Revolution ushered in the rebirth of the Department of Justice.