Malvar was an original Katipunero, having joined the
Katipunan before the Philippine Revolution. When the Revolution began in August 1896, Malvar emerged from leading a 70-man army to becoming the military commander of Batangas. As a military commander, he coordinated offensives with General
Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the revolutionaries in
Cavite, and General
Paciano Rizal, leader of the revolutionaries in
Laguna. The Bonifacio brothers were murdered on May 10, 1897, in the mountains of
Maragondon. After Bonifacio was murdered, the Spanish offensive resumed, now under
Governor-General Fernando Primo de Rivera, and forced Aguinaldo out of Cavite. Aguinaldo slipped through the Spanish cordon and, with 500 picked men, proceeded to Biak-na-Bató, a wilderness area at the tri-boundaries of the towns of
San Miguel,
San Ildefonso and
Doña Remedios in
Bulacan. When news of Aguinaldo's arrival there reached the towns of
central Luzon, men from the
Ilocos provinces,
Nueva Ecija,
Pangasinan,
Tarlac, and
Zambales, renewed their armed resistance against the Spanish. By the end of 1897, Governor-General Primo de Rivera accepted the impossibility of quelling the revolution by force of arms. In a statement to the
Cortes Generales, he said,
"I can take Biak-na-Bato, any military man can take it, but I can not answer that I could crush the rebellion." Desiring to make peace with Aguinaldo, he sent emissaries to Aguinaldo seeking a peaceful settlement. Nothing was accomplished until
Pedro A. Paterno, a distinguished lawyer from
Manila perhaps wanting a Spanish nobility title, volunteered to act as negotiator. On August 9, 1897, Paterno proposed a peace based on reforms and amnesty to Aguinaldo. In succeeding months, practicing
shuttle diplomacy, Paterno traveled back and forth between Manila and Biak-na-Bato carrying proposals and counterproposals. Paterno's efforts led to a peace agreement called the
Pact of Biak-na-Bato. This consisted of three documents, the first two being signed on December 14, 1897, and the third being signed on December 15; effectively ending the Republic of Biak-na-Bato. Malvar, along with other generals like
Mariano Trías, Paciano Rizal,
Manuel Tinio, and
Artemio Ricarte, as opposed to the pact, believing it was a ruse of the Spanish to get rid of the Revolution easily, and therefore resumed military offensives. Aguinaldo, seeing the stiff resistance of Malvar and his sympathizers, issued a circular ordering the revolutionary generals to stop fighting. On January 6, 1898, Malvar ceased his offensives. ==Philippine–American War==