His radical nationalist ideas irritated the colonial Spanish officials so he sailed to Hong Kong and then to mainland Spain where he continued his law school at the University of Madrid.

In the Philippines, he held several positions in the revolutionary republic's Aguinaldo cabinet: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Colonel of the General State, and a brigadier-general of the army.

In 1900 US elections, Theodore Roosevelt used this document to his vice presidential candidacy as further justification to American occupation of the Philippines.

[3] From 1919–1931, he served as a Senator to the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Philippine Legislatures representing the third senatorial district (present-day Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga and Tarlac).

After retiring from public service, he became the manager of Katubusan and La Paz y Buen Viaje cigar factories.