As the leader of the Katipunan chapter in Makati, del Pilar joined the Cavite rebels under Aguinaldo and commanded one of the wings in the Battle of Binakayan in November 1896. A farmer turned militarist, Pio del Pilar was born on July 11, 1860, in Culi-culi, Makati, Rizal to Isaac Isidro and Antonia Castañeda. He was unable to finish his secondary schooling on account of his father''s illness which forced him to till their farm. Once a cabeza de barangay and teniente del barrio, a meeting with Jose Rizal in 1892 is said to have won him over to the independence movement. As the leader of the Katipunan chapter in Makati, he joined the Cavite rebels under Emilio Aguinaldo, and commanded one of the wings at the victorious battle of Binakayan in November 1896. To save his family from persecution, he is alleged to have changed his surname to that of the great Bulakeño, Marcelo H. del Pilar. When Governor General Basilio Agustin appealed to the Filipino people to help the Spaniards in the fight against the Americans on May 4, 1898, he joined the Filipino Volunteer Militia together with other revolutionary leaders like Licero Geronimo, Enrique Flores and Felipe Buencamino, Sr.; later, however, they switched sides and joined Aguinaldo. Del Pilar was one of the commanding general of the Filipinos who besieged Manila, an act which contributed to the surrender of the Spaniards to the Americans on August 13, 1898. During the Philippine American War, Del Pilar fought the enemy at Guadalupe, Makati. In 1900, Generals Paciano Rizal, Pantaleon Garcia, Maximo Hizon, Francisco Makabulos, Pio del Pilar, Servillano Aquino, Mariano Llanera and Artemio Ricarte were captured by the Americans, in Sta. Ana. Del Pilar refused to take an oath of allegiance to America and on January 7, 1901, he was deported with 57 rebels. These deportees left Manila on January 15, 1901 aboard the U.S. transport Rosecrans. Del Pilar died in Pasay, Rizal on July 1, 1931.