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On July 11, 1865, General Pio del Pilar was born as Pio Isidro y Castañeda in San Pedro de Macati (now Makati City). Due to issues involving his family, he later chose to carry the surname "del Pilar," thus sharing the surname of other renowned Filipinos of his time like the reformist Marcelo H. del Pilar.

Instead of pursuing higher education, del Pilar became a farmer until being drafted as a soldier by the Spanish to fight in Mindanao. Upon his return home, he would eventually become cabeza de barangay and teniente del barrio. By 1896, he joined the Katipunan with the codename "Pang-una" (First), and served as secretary of the Makati council known as "Magtagumpay" (Victorious). The flag carried by del Pilar had the "K" of the Katipunan surrounding a mountain and the rising sun.

Tasked to gather forces to fight at Pinaglabanan (San Juan del Monte), the first battle of the Philippine Revolution which was engaged in August 1896, del Pilar assembled some 1,000 revolutionaries and waited at the British Cemetery (Protestant Cemetery) in Makati. He noted that more reinforcements to rendezvous with them were still being expected, particularly from Morong (now Rizal Province), but they never came. With no guns to arm themselves with, and seeing the battle plan of Andres Bonifacio falling apart as they continued waiting, their commander Telesforo Calasanz dispersed the Makati revolutionaries.

Del Pilar would nonetheless distinguish himself in future battles of the Revolution, including Binakayan (November 1896) and Zapote Bridge (February 1897). In the aftermath of the Tejeros Convention, which saw the election of Emilio Aguinaldo as president of a new government, the Naic Military Agreement made by Bonifacio and his allies on April 19, 1897 designated Pio del Pilar as the captain general "of all troops" in an attempt to recognize "no other authority" in achieving "unity" among the revolutionaries.

When it was Aguinaldo's turn to meet del Pilar and another general, Mariano Noriel, they told him that they were "blinded by false promises," and reconciled with the Magdalo leader. Perhaps Bonifacio hoped he could unify the feuding Katipunan factions in Cavite, particularly the Magdalo and the Magdiwang, under the command of del Pilar. Instead, del Pilar deviated from the agreement, as did a number of its original signatories, and testified against Bonifacio during the latter's trial.

During the Spanish-American War, del Pilar joined the Filipino militia organized by Spanish Governor General Basilio Augustin against the United States. Along with him came other revolutionaries like Artemio Ricarte, sharing with them mutual distrust of the Americans. When Aguinaldo returned to the Philippines by May 1898, del Pilar broke away from Spain, and came to the revolutionary side once more.

Nevertheless, he and other generals like Noriel and Ricarte voiced to Aguinaldo their views on American presence in the Philippines. Doubting the Americans would leave the archipelago after their war with Spain, del Pilar was adamant to build fortifications around the capital Manila to prevent the Americans from breaking out of the Filipino encirclement. By the time the Filipino-American War erupted in February 1899, del Pilar was assigned to defend the Filipino-held zone south of Manila.

In the Malolos Congress, which was convened by September 1898, he was appointed as one of the representatives of Negros Oriental. This act by Aguinaldo apparently disappointed some of the Negros revolutionaries, for none of their representatives to Congress were even from Negros. After securing the liberation of their province from Spain starting November 1898, while the new Negros government recognized Aguinaldo's authority, they still proceeded to elect their own representatives.

Del Pilar would be captured while fighting in Morong and be exiled by the United States government along with other "irreconciliable" Filipinos to Guam on July 16, 1901. Pardoned after the official end of the Filipino-American War in 1902, del Pilar would be able to return to the Philippines. He died on July 21, 1931.

In 1959, Republic Act No. 2570 was approved to rename his birthplace in Makati, Barrio Culi-Culi, as Pio del Pilar in his honor.

Learn more about Pio del Pilar and the Katipunan in this history website: https://history-ph.blogspot.com/2017/05/bonifacio.html

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