12 Facts About Vicente Lava

Vicente Lava was the eldest child of Adeodato and Maria Lava.

From 1912 to 1916, Lava studied chemistry at the University of the Philippines.

Vicente Lava moved to the United States to pursue higher education in 1917, enrolling at the University of California, Berkeley.

Vicente Lava later enrolled at Columbia University, where he earned his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry degrees in 1920 and 1923, respectively.

Vicente Lava returned to the Philippines with Ruth in 1923, where he worked for two years as a chemist in the Bureau of Science.

In 1925, Vicente Lava became a professor at the University of the Philippines Los Banos, where, in his interest in promoting local Philippine industry, which he believed was neglected as a result of the American Payne-Aldritch Tariff Act, he began research on a process of extracting oil and other fuels from coconuts.

In 1929, Lava returned to the United States, where he worked at Oberlin College in Ohio on a Grasselli research fellowship, conducting studies on Vitamin B In 1931, he became a research fellow at New York University, where he resumed and completed his work on coconuts.

Vicente Lava discovered other processes to create coconut milk and flour, and experimented with other native products.

That month, the Communist Party, with the help of Vicente Lava, prepared a 12-point memorandum urging national unity and resistance against the Japanese, and pledging loyalty to the Philippines and United States.

In 1943, the headquarters of the Hukbalahap in Luzon was raided, and Vicente Lava returned to Manila to reorganize the movement from a distance.

Vicente Lava's proposals were rejected and he was demoted in the party organization.

In 1946, Vicente Lava ran as a senatorial candidate of the Democratic Alliance but was not elected.