Battle of Binakayan - Dalahican The Battle of Binakayan - Dalahican was a simultaneous battle during the Philippine Revolution that was fought from November 9 – 11 , 1896 that led to a decisive Filipino victory . The twin battle took place at the shores of Binakayan , in the town of Cavite Viejo ( also called Cavite el Viejo , now Kawit ) ; Dalahican and Dagatan in Noveleta ; and , to minimal extent , in Imus and Bacoor towns in Cavite province , Philippines that lasted for two days before the Spanish army retreated demoralized and in disarray . The result of the battle was the first significant Filipino victory in the country ' s history . Background . Andres Bonifacio , the leader and the instigator of the revolution , have been defeated three times in battle , losing the morale of some men who are willing to join at his side , especially those who are from Bulacan . In contrast , the revolutionaries in Cavite have been largely successful in battles since the start of the revolution in August 1896 against the Spaniards , who are often heavily outnumbered and its commanders , like in the case of the Spanish general Ernesto de Aguirre who was killed more than two months earlier during the Battle of Imus in September 1896 , being overconfident and incompetent , and often outsmarted by their opponents , particularly the generals Emilio Aguinaldo of the Magdalo faction and Santiago Alvarez of the Magdiwang faction . The former successfully led a small uprising in Cavite el Viejo on August 31 , 1896 , where he defeated and killed the Spanish commander of the " Guardia Civil " , after Bonifacio ' s defeat at the Battle of San Juan del Monte . The leadership was then passed from his brother , Baldomero , to him , where most of " Magdalo " members and revolutionaries regarded him as their leader . In Cavite , the Sangguniang Bayan ( provincial council ) of the Katipunan have two popular councils presiding its members over their respective areas . One of this council is the " Magdalo " Council , which was headed by Emilio Aguinaldo encompassing the municipalities of Alfonso , Bailen ( now called General Emilio Aguinaldo ) , Indang , Magallanes , Maragondon , Naic , Rosario , San Francisco de Malabon ( now General Trias , Cavite ) , San Roque ( now part of Cavite City ) , Tanza , and Ternate . The other council , " Magdiwang " , is headed by Mariano Álvarez and presides the towns of Amadeo , Bacoor , Carmona , Perez - Dasmariñas ( now Dasmariñas ) , Cavite el Viejo , Mendez Núñez ( now Mendez ) , and Silang . Magdalo ' s name originated from Aguinaldo ' s nom - de - plume for Katipunan which was rooted from Santa Magdalena ( Saint Mary Magdalene ) , Cavite Viejos ' s patron saint . " Magdalo " held its capital in Noveleta , while " Magdiwang " was in Imus . Prelude . General Alvarez and Colonel Inocencio Salud took charge of the construction of the bamboo fortifications in Dalahican known as “ Battery Numbers 1 , 2 and 3 ” in September 1896 . Dalahican was a strategic barrio guarding the entrance to the Cavite peninsula . Alarmed by previous siege done by General Aguinaldo in Imus , Cavite in September 1896 , Governor - General Ramón Blanco y Erenas ordered the 4th Battalion of Cazadores from Spain to aid him in annihilating revolution in the province . On November 3 , 1896 , the battalion arrived carrying a squadron of 1 , 328 men and some 55 generals . Apart from that , Blanco ordered some 8 , 000 men when he learned that insurgents already occupied most of Las Piñas and Parañaque towns in the outskirts of Manila . Previous to the land attacks , Spanish naval raids were conducted on the shores of Cavite , where cannon balls were bombarded against the revolutionary fortifications in Bacoor , Noveleta , Binakayan and Cavite Viejo . The most fortified locations in Noveleta are the Dalahican and Dagatan shores defended by " Magdiwang " soldiers , while the adjacent fishing village of Binakayan in Kawit was fortified by " Magdalo " . Spanish naval operations were determined to crush the fortifications in these areas , mainly because the lake around Dalahican was so strategic as it connects to the interior of Cavite . Apart from defending Binakayan , the " Magdalo " soldiers also kept the lower part of Dagatan up to Cavite ' s border near Morong province ( now Rizal province ) . The battle . The Katipunan revolutionaries , numbering 112 , 000 men including 35 , 000 ill - equipped conscripted regulars and more than 60 , 000 militia ( mostly irregulars or bolomen ) desperately gathered from all Katipunan - controlled parts of Cavite , Laguna , Bulacan , Morong and Batangas provinces , entrenched a mile and a half long stockade and dense trench networks stretching between Noveleta along Dalahican and to the Morong - Cavite provincial border in the north , cutting of and preventing land reinforcements towards Cavite City . The city , the capital of the province , is connected by a narrow isthmus in Dalahican to the mainland Cavite . Blanco feared of the port city falling to the hands of the rebels . Each day , the stockade advances towards the isthmus . To prevent further mishaps and the fall of whole Cavite , Blanco launched twin attacks to the stockades in both Cavite el Viejo and Noveleta . On November 8 , Blanco commissioned Colonel José Marina to command the attack on Binakayan front in Cavite Viejo . The column assigned to Marina includes about 12 , 000 - 15 , 000 men , including more than 5 , 000 Spaniards : 1 , 600 marine infantry , two companies from 73rd Native Regiment , a company of artillery , 60 military engineers from the 6th Company of Engineers , two naval warships , and four gunboats . The 73rd Native Regiment includes Filipino native auxiliaries , but more than 10 , 000 native mercenaries , loyalists and volunteers were also assigned to the attack on Binakayan . Forts in Cavite City were opened to fire on approaching revolutionaries , while warships " Castilla " , " Reina Cristina " , and gunboats " Bulusan " , " Leyte " , " Villalobos " and " Cebu " destroyed stockade s in Noveleta and Cavite el Viejo . The first attack on November 8 coincides with Cavite City ' s week - long fiesta celebrating its patron saint , Our Lady of Solitude of Porta Vaga . Despite the wails of revolution , pilgrims of the Virgin flocked the city , whereby revolutionists cooperated and attended all of the festivities and celebrations . The sound of cannonball hitting the shores of Cavite was only taken by local townsfolk as the enemy ' s contribution to the fiesta . By nightfall , Spanish firings intensified , but the rebels took no action to honor the Virgin of Solitude . Attack in Binakayan . At 6 a . m . on November 9 , 1896 after a series of bombardment , Spanish soldiers launched a siege towards rebel fortifications in Binakayan . The columns were twofold , the first one , commanded by Col . José Marina headed to Binakayan , while the second one , by General Diego de los Ríos approached entrenchments at Dalahican . Meanwhile , Emilio Aguinaldo , the leader of the council defending Binakayan , headed to the boundary of Laguna and Batangas , thinking that the enemies would approach there . When he heard the news that Spanish forces are building up in Binakayan , he hurried back to defend the village . He was surprised to see that the Spanish forces could not enter the excellent trench designed by General Edilberto Evangelista , although , during the Spanish advance , Candido Tirona , one of the Katipunero generals , was stabbed in the neck and killed by a Spaniard while witnessing the battle and resting from a coconut tree not far from the shore . The Filipinos then conducted a series of massive counterattacks with their bolos and machetes to curb the Spanish advance heading towards Binakayan and Kawit . On November 10 , an old woman named " Gloria " ( Gregoria P . Montoya ) joined Aguinaldo while defending the fort . Because of age , Aguinaldo requested Gloria to leave the fortification , but she refused to . She said that she wanted to revenge the death of his " Katipunero " husband who died a day ago during the attacks in Dalahican . To serve the post , Aguinaldo gave Gloria several units to delay the incoming Spanish reinforcement marching from Bacoor , Cavite . One of the most significant and memorable contribution of Gloria to this battle was when she , herself only , dismantled the wooden bridge across Imus River in Mabolo , Bacoor , which connects the town of Bacoor to Cavite Viejo . Because of that , Spanish reinforcement were delayed in coming to Binakayan , though at the cost of her own life . On November 11 , the Spanish forces advanced to destroy enemy entrenchment with no development of opposition from the rebels . When the army reached the road forking towards Cavite Viejo and Imus , the location became overwhelmed with a rain of projectiles in a long , dense line of entrenchments at short range . The main body for defending the fortifications were 22 Remington rifles , a German Mauser rifle and some native muskets and cannons gunned with improvised missiles made of scraped irons , which were destructive to about " 500 arms length " . At each advancement , more Spanish soldiers were killed , including the officers . When the Spaniards saw that their lieutenants and generals were killed by the defense of Binakayan , they were demoralized with many retreating back to their ships while some of them headed back to Manila , thus , terminating the attack in Binakayan . A small group led by Col . Marina ( who had been wounded three times ) rallied towards the entrenchment in Dalahican . The demoralized Spanish troops left about 200 guns , generally Mausers and Remingtons , and thousands of loads of cartridge and supplies in Binakayan . Attack in Dalahican . The Battle of Dalahican lasted for 36 hours as was in Binakayan . About 3 , 000 Spanish troops , under Blanco ' s orders , were marching towards Dalahican . Although initially successful in breaching Filipino defenses , the Spanish failed to totally destroy the former ' s positions and were thus under constant musket fire , melee charges and archer shoots by the Filipinos . During the battle , the dead bodies of the enemies and revolutionaries that perished were contained into three wells that were dug through Alvarez ' s command . The attack on Filipino positions by the Spaniards at Dalahican completely failed , suffering more than 1 , 000 casualties in the process , and by nightfall on November 11 , the battle was over . They tried to retreat back towards Manila at the end of the battle , but , now cut off from Manila due to Filipino victory at Binakayan , fell back instead to Cavite City . Aguinaldo and Alvarez , along with their troops , then pursued the retreating Spanish and besieged Cavite City , where many Spanish soldiers surrendered to Aguinaldo . Aftermath . The decisive victories at Binakayan and Dalahican saved most of Cavite province from being recaptured by the Spaniards ( most of Cavite will be recaptured by the Spaniards upon Aguinaldo ' s exile by the provisions of the Pact of Biak - na - Bato in 1897 ) . More Filipinos in Batangas , Laguna , Pampanga , Bulacan and Morong joined the Katipunan independence movement inspired by the victory in Binakayan and Dalahican . In the period following the twin battle , several townsfolk from all over nearby provinces raced to settle in the territory of the newly - liberated Cavite , bringing with them their town bands , their patron saints and so on . This period of temporary peace saw what the settlers of Cavite called " " Ang Panahon ng Tagalog " " ( the Tagalog Era ) . Although the Spanish won some battles after Binakayan and Dalahican , it would eventually take them about four months to recover from this crushing defeat . The battle made Aguinaldo , himself one of the chief commanders of the battle , a permanent legend in Filipino history , as it was the first major Filipino victory of the war and of the Philippine history over a colonial power ; he used his victory as pretext to consolidate his position on the Katipunan over Bonifacio , who himself suffered numerous defeats , during the Tejeros Convention the next year , where he won as the first president of the Philippines . However , it also paved the way for the execution of the Filipino doctor and nationalist , José Rizal , more than a month later after the battle , due to charges of rebellion , sedition , and conspiracy by the Spanish government . Ramón Blanco y Erenas , the Spanish governor - general of the Philippine islands , gave Rizal lead to leave the islands for Cuba , but was thus arrested while en route . The execution occurred in December 30 the same year .