Spanish Cavite offensive and Battle of Perez Dasmariñas[edit]

Main article: Battle of Perez Dasmariñas

While Polavieja was poised to strike at Zapote, another Spanish contingent is marching towards
Aguinaldo's rear. On February 15, 1897, the Spaniards launched the powerful Cavite offensive to
drive and crush Filipino revolutionaries under Aguinaldo and his Magdalo forces that held numerous
victories against the Spanish in the early stages of the revolution. Renewed and fully equipped with
100 cannons, 23,000 Spanish cazadores forces under Major General Jose de Lachambre saw town
after town fall back to the Crown. Starting the offensive at Pamplona, Cavite, and Bayungyungan,
Batangas, Lachambre's men later marched deep into the heart of Aguinaldo's home province. [citation
needed]

Having just won the Battle of Zapote Bridge, Aguinaldo turned his attention at the new Spanish
threat and was determined to recapture most of Cavite. Aguinaldo decided to deploy his forces at
Pasong Santol, a bottleneck of Perez Dasmariñas on the way to Imus, which rendered the Spanish
immoble and served the revolutionaries by its natural defensive positions. On February 19, Silang
fell to the Spanish juggernaut despite attempts by Filipino forces to defend and then to recover it.
Nine days later, Spanish forces marched into Dasmariñas to reclaim the town. A week later, Spanish
troops used artillery pieces well to attack again as they moved towards Aguinaldo's capital, Imus.
Meanwhile, at the Tejero Convention, Aguinaldo was voted in absentia as president of the
reorganized revolutionary government. Colonel Vicente Riego de Dios was sent by the assembly to
fetch Aguinaldo, who was in Pasong Santol. Aguinaldo refused to come and so Crispulo was then
sent to talk to his brother. He greeted and talked to his brother and explained his purpose, but
Aguinaldo was hesitant to leave his post because of the pending attack of the Spanish in
Dasmariñas. In March 1897, a stalemated battle between the revolutionary army of Crispulo
Aguinaldo, who took over Aguinaldo's leadership in the battle, and the Spanish forces, led by José
de Lachambre, occurred in the trail. The Filipinos' resistance was tenacious as ever by refusing to
give ground, but the Spaniards were far more disciplined and advanced steadily. Aguinaldo realized
the size of the enemy and the danger of the situation and so sent Magdalo troops to reinforce the
threatened salient, but Supremo Andres Bonifacio summoned Magdiwang troops under, Artemio
Ricarte, to intercept the Magdalo troops to Pasong Santol and refused to help the revolutionary
soldiers and stated that he needed the soldiers elsewhere. The Spaniards pressed the offensive and
achieved tactical superiority, which led to the massacre of the Filipino soldiers, including Aguinaldo's
brother. The Spaniards captured the salient only after Crispulo had been killed during the battle, and
the rebels promptly broke off the engagement and reorganized inside the town. Exploiting the gap
among the revolutionaries, the Spaniards decisively defeated the Magdalo forces.[citation needed]

Tejeros Convention[edit]
Aguinaldo as a field marshal during the battle

Main article: Tejeros Convention

Conflict within the ranks of the Katipunan factions, specifically between
the Magdalo and Magdiwang, led to Bonifacio's intervention in Cavite Province. [21] The rebels of
Cavite were rumored to have made overtures to establish a revolutionary government in place of the
Katipunan.[22] Though Bonifacio already considered the Katipunan to be a government, he
acquiesced and presided over a convention held on March 22, 1897, in Tejeros, Cavite, in which the
Republic of the Philippines was proclaimed, with Aguinaldo being elected as president, Mariano
Trias as vice-president, Artemio Ricarte as captain-general, Emiliano Riego de Dios as the director
of war, and Andres Bonifacio as director of the interior. The results were questioned by Daniel
Tirona for Bonifacio's qualifications for that position. Bonifacio was insulted and declared, "I, as
chairman of this assembly, and as President of the Supreme Council of the Katipunan, as all of you
do not deny, declare this assembly dissolved, and I annul all that has been approved and
resolved."[23]

Retreat to Montalban[edit]
Main article: Retreat to Montalban
Having lost to the Spanish forces several weeks after the Battle of Perez Dasmariñas, Aguinaldo's
rear guard fought a delaying action against Spanish spearheads until troops and stragglers had
retreated southwest of Cavite. In late May 1897, concealing the retreating soldiers well, Aguinaldo
managed to evade the Spanish and establish a link with General Mamerto Natividad. With the
revolutionaries overwhelmed in Cavite, Natividad was commissioned to look for a place of retreat
and found Biak-Na-Bato. The Spanish pursued the Katipunero forces retreating towards central
Luzon and killed many of the revolutionaries. However, some of them joined General Manuel Tinio's
revolutionary army in Nueva Ecija, where they decisively won the Battle of Aliaga, "the glorious
Battle of the Rebellion," only a few weeks after the retreat.