[1][2] Upon his eventual release, he returned to Noveleta, and in 1881, was elected gobernadorcillo before becoming capitan municipal, the new title under the Maura Law, in 1893 after getting re-elected.

[1] Álvarez and his son Santiago were active members of the Katipunan, the anti-Spanish secret society founded by Andrés Bonifacio in 1892.

[6] In their memoirs, Emilio Aguinaldo and other Magdalo personages claim that Bonifacio became the head of the Magdiwang, receiving the title Hari ng Bayan (“King of the People”) with Álvarez as his second-in-command.

[8] Instead it has been suggested that these claims stem from a misunderstanding or misrepresentation of one of Bonifacio’s titles, Pangulo ng Haring Bayan (“President of the Sovereign Nation”).

Álvarez was aggrieved by Bonifacio's death, and, like Emilio Jacinto, refused to join the forces of Aguinaldo, who had then retreated to Biak-na-Bato in Bulacan.

[1][2] In May 1863, he married Nicolasa Virata y del Rosario and has three children including Santiago, also a revolutionary general, was born on July 25, 1872, in Imus.

Álvarez joined the nationalist-oriented Philippine Independent Church founded by Isabelo de los Reyes and Gregorio Aglipay in 1902.