Although he was a native of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija, Mariano eventually settled in Licab, then a barrio of Aliaga beside Lake Canarem, and carved out rice fields from the heavily forested area.

Mariano was a man of strong principles, and even led a petition to the Governor-General denouncing the corruption and abuses of the Alcalde Mayor, the governor of Nueva Ecija, and asking for his recall.

On September 2, 1896, Manuel Tinio and his men joined the combined forces of Mariano Llanera and Pantaleon Belmonte, capitanes municipales or mayors of Cabiao and Gapan, respectively, in the attack on San Isidro.

With the help of Pedro Paterno, a prominent Philippines lawyer, Aguinaldo began negotiating a truce with the Spanish government in exchange for reforms, an indemnity, and safe conduct.

They were met with such a tremendous hail of bullets that the general, two captains and many soldiers were wounded, forcing the Spaniards to retreat a kilometer away from the town to await the arrival of Gen. Monet and his men.

Manuel Tinio and the rest of the revolutionists in Hong Kong sailed for Cavite on June 6 on board the 60-ton contraband boat "Kwan Hoi" to join their Filipino leader.

Gen. Makabulos, who had taken over the Central Luzon Command the previous April, was optimistic that he had the situation well in hand and allowed Gen. Tinio and the combined Novo-Ecijano troops at Dagupan to proceed northward to liberate Ilocos from the Spaniards.

Alejandrino, dispatched earlier by Gen. Tinio to reconnoiter and clear the neighboring commandancia or military district of Benguet, had met no opposition for the small force of cazadores in La Trinidad had fled to Bontoc upon learning of their approach.

He then ordered the troops under Col. Mariano Arques, district commander of the Civil Guards and Jefe de Linea in Ilocos, to take the coastal road to Aparri, Cagayan.

With the Ilocos in stable condition, Gen. Tinio then went to Malolos to report to Gen. Aguinaldo and upon the request of Felipe Buencamino, Minister of Finance, turned over P120,000 that had been contributed by the citizens of Vigan.

(Contrary to popular belief that prevailed for over a century, the first shot of the Philippine–American War was not fired on San Juan bridge but on Sociego Street in Santa Mesa district, Manila.

Ever keen in foresight and strategy, anticipating an invasion by the American aggressors, Gen. Tinio ordered the construction of 636 trenches, well designed and strategically placed for cross fire, to protect the principal roads and ports and to guard the entire coastline from Rosario, La Union to Cape Bojeador in Ilocos Norte.

One of the highlights of the day-long festivities, which included a royal feast and a grand ball, was the dedication of a birthday hymn specially written for him, set to music and sung by the populace.

In his place, Brigadier Gen. Benito Natividad, recently promoted (at age 24) and on leave because of wounds sustained in the Battle of Calumpit, Bulacan, took over as temporary commander of the Ilocos provinces.

The brigade was diminished in size when Gen. Tinio marched with his general staff and several battalions to Bayambang, Pangasinan to cover President Aguinaldo's retreat while the others were sent to Zambales under Col. Alejandrino.

Sonnichsen wrote: "...while in Vigan, Tinio learned that the captive friars were living well on money sent from Manila, while the poor Cazadores were obliged to subsist on their meager rations (as prisoners of war).

[5]: 358  A few days later, 225 American troops, mostly Texas volunteers forming a battalion of the 33rd Infantry under Major Peyton C. March,[6]: 153  arrived from San Fabian, took up residence in the Archbishop's Palace and stored their ammunition and supplies in the adjoining girls' school.

On Nov. 27, the day the Americans occupied Vigan, Gen. Tinio sent orders for all active soldiers of the brigade to concentrate along the shores of the Abra River towns of San Quintin, Piddigan and Bangued, beyond the Tangadan Pass.

[6]: 163  Although Filipino snipers were already in position in the buildings around the plaza, in the ensuing four-hour battle at close range they were no match for the legendary Texas marksmanship and the inexhaustible supply of American ammunition.

[6]: 165  The pass was defended by 1,060 men under Lt. Col. Blas Villamor, Tinio's chielf of staff, in trench works constructed over the last year with the assistance of Spanish engineers.

Howze caught up with the brigade's baggage train in Danglas on 8 Dec.[6]: 182  and 750 more Spanish prisoners on 10 Dec. at Dingras[6]: 188  This last group included General Leopoldo Garcia Pena, former commander of Cavite province.

Despite holding the ‘strongest position in Luzon’, as Steever believed the Bimmuaya stronghold to be, the Filipinos, with their paltry stock of rifles and ammunition, succumbed in less than 24 hours to the mighty American forces.

On April 29, 1901, Gen. Manuel Tinio, whom the American military historian, William T. Sexton, called "the soul of the insurrection in the Ilocos provinces of Northern Luzon" and "a general of a different stamp from the majority of the insurgent leaders", surrendered.

89 releasing 1,000 Filipino prisoners of war "to specially signalize the recent surrender of Gen. Manuel Tinio and other prominent military leaders in the provinces of Abra and Ilocos Norte."

La Fraternidad, a Manila newspaper, happily reported, "The 1st of May is now for 2 reasons an important date in contemporary Philippine history – 1898, the destruction of the Spanish squadron in Cavite; 1901, the surrender of Generals Tinio and Natividad and the complete pacification of Northern Luzon.

General Tinio informed me that he had most of the band in jail already, his guns captured, and the robberies stopped, and the principal outstanding ladron (the only one that I know by name in the whole of Luzon) driven from his borders and over to Pangasinan.

Months before Forbes assumed the office, "Manila was being troubled by a series of strikes generally fomented by the shamelessly corrupt labor leader Dominador Gomez, who was taking a cut out of sums levied as blackmail against major American firms.

It was while he was Director of the Bureau of Lands that cadastral surveys for each municipality began to be made, and the area now covered by the towns of Rizal, Llanera, Gen. Natividad, Laur, Lupao and Muñoz were subdivided into homesteads.

Although Masonic Triangles had been established in Nueva Ecija in the 19th Century (Triangulo Morayta in Gapan, Ruiz in Peneranda, Centeno in Cabiao, Dampulan in Jaen , and Tabon in San Isidro), not one had been set up in Cabanatuan.

Having first-hand knowledge of the severe labor shortage that came about due to the widespread conversion of jungles into vast rice farms from 1903 to 1920, he and his fellow hacenderos established the Samahang Magsasaka in 1910.