[3] Ongpin established his own business in 1883 which he named "El 82" to symbolise the colony’s rebirth from the cholera epidemic the year before.

[4] Ongpin eventually became a financier of the Katipunan,[4] letting the revolutionary organisation use his store as one of its many hideouts.

Ongpin also provided cash and food to the movement until the end of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines.

Ongpin once again aided Filipinos in the ensuing Philippine–American War, and was jailed by American forces in December 1900.

[3] Despite his release in March 1901, Ongpin remained staunchly opposed to the United States' occupation of the islands.