[5] He took a clerical job at the Tesoreria General de Hacienda as a means to avoid getting enlisted into the Spanish Army to fight against the Moros in Mindanao and Sulu.

[3] The Gran Compania de Zarzuela Tagala was established in 1902 by Reyes, also directing zarzuellas himself for the group.

On June 14, 1902, Zarzuela Tagala staged Walang Sugat a drama set in Bulacan during the Philippine Revolution.

The program of his plays was also exhibited by Governor-General William Howard Taft at the St. Louis World Exposition and the Panama Pacific International Exposition[3] Reyes helped found the Liwayway magazine in 1922, where he published Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang a series of short stories.

He used the titular character Lola Basyang as his pen name and the work became the magazine's most widely read feature.