Batangas is the very heart of the Tagalog region. Cavite is the cradle of insurrection and the birthplace of many of the political and military leaders. Laguna and Tayabas are but little less addicted to insurrection than the other two. Batangas is the hub of this Brigade. The insurrection has been more vigorously and numerously sustained here, I think, than elsewhere, because Batangas, being richer, has contributed more members to foreign juntas than have the other provinces. These leaders advise their families and friends here to continue the struggle.

General James Franklin Bell

The members of the good families of Lipa were intensely patriotic, and at the same time very kind and courteous.

General Wade, in his report written some months after our departure from Lipa, said in substance: "Here, in the provinces of Cavite, Laguna and Batangas, where the most enlightenment, wealth and good blood are to be found, the insurrection will die in its last ditch.", The last insurrecto general of any consequence, Malvar, surrendered at Lipa, thus proving the soundness of General Wade's prophecy, and increasing the good will and respect which I had always had for the people of Lipa.

Col Charles Judson Crane (The Experiences of a Colonel of Infantry)

The thirteen months that transpired between the capture of Aguinaldo and the surrender of Miguel Malvar are, without question, the most celebrated period in Batangas’ history. Long after most of the Philippines had been pacified, the Batangueño guerillas held out, sustained by a substantial sector of the non-combatant population. In that period, the province of Batangas came to symbolize the Filipino resistance, and the name Miguel Malvar became synonymous with Filipino defiance. But, as is always the case with lost causes, the price to be paid for valor of this kind was high. To quash the resisters of the southern Tagalog region, the U.S. Army resorted, in the end, to extreme measures. Had the Batangueños been less dogged, they would have suffered less.

Glenn Anthony May (Battle for Batangas, A Philippine province at war.)