On September 27, 1865, General Miguel Malvar, a revolutionary general, was born in Santo Tomas (now a city), Batangas to Maximo Malvar locally known as Capitan Imoy and Tiburcia Carpio.
Malvar, a former gobernadorcillo of his hometown, played an instrumental role during the Philippine revolution against Spain, and the subsequent Philippine-American War.
Malvar joined the Katipunan before the Philippine Revolution of 1896. When the revolution broke out, he emerged from a leader of a small army to being the military commander of Batangas. He coordinated offensives with General Emilio Aguinaldo of the Cavite revolutionaries and with General Paciano Rizal, leader of the revolutionaries in Laguna.
On February 1899, when the hostilities between Americans and Filipinos began, Malvar was appointed second-in-command to General Mariano Trias, who was the overall commander of the Filipino forces in Southern Luzon.
With General Emilio Aguinaldo’s capture by the Americans in 1901, and the earlier surrender of his (Aguinaldo’s) successor, General Mariano Trias, Malvar took the task of running the resistance movement against the Americans.
In early 1902, the American campaign inflected heavy casualty on both guerrilla fighters and civilians. As early as August of 1901, the Americans released exact description of Malvar’s physical features aimed at capturing the General. Malvar would escape American patrols by putting on disguise.
General Malvar surrendered to American General J Franklin Bell in April 1902 followed by his troops, ending the battle in Batangas.
In 1891, Malvar married Paula Maloles, daughter of Don Ambrocio Maloles. Don Ambrocio was his successor as gobernadorcillo of Santo Tomas. Ulay, as she was known locally, bore Malvar’s thirteen children, only eleven of them would survive.
Malvar retired to a quiet farming life and passed away on October 13, 1911 at the age of 46 due to liver failure.
Source:
Pambansang Komisyon Pangkasaysayan
(Filed by Jr Amigo/ai/mnm)