Case Study

1- Where did the first catholic mass take place in the Philippines?
- The first catholic mass in the Philippines took place on Limasawa, Southern Leyte. The
evidence was written on Francisco Albo’s Log book one, where he stated that Magellan and
some Spanish survivors build a cross at the mountain that overlooks the island.
- March 31, 1521, an Easter Sunday, the day when the first catholic mass was held.
- Ferdinand Magellan ordered to celebrate the mass which was officiated by Father Pedro
Valderrama being the only priest present during that time and was held in the shore of
Mazaua, according to Pigafetta’s journal.

2- What happened at the Cavite Mutiny? Why you asking me I wasn’t there
- Cavite mutiny happened on January 20, 1872
- The cavite mutiny was an attempt by the Filipinos to overthrow the Spanish government.
- This was a part of thr plan of Governor General Rafael Izquierdo who used the mutiny to
implicate the native clergy and was then active in the call for secularization.
- This was the uprising of the Filipino Military Personnel Fort San Felipe the Spanish arsenal in
Cavite. Around 200 local colonial troops and laborers were recruited to go up against the
Spanish believing that it would elevate the national uprising of the Filipinos. Their leader
was Fernando La Madrid. They seized Fort and Felipe and killed eleven Spanish officers. The
news reached Governor General Izquierdo who ordered the reinforcement of the Spanish
forces in Cavite to quell the revolt. The mutiny was easily crushed when the expected
reinforcement from Manila did not come.
- Major instigators including sergeant La Madrid were killed while the GomBurZa were tried
by a court martial and was sentenced to death. Patriots like Joaquin Pardo de Tavera,
Antonio Ma. Regidor, Josa and Pio Basa and other abogadillos were suspended by the
Audencia or the High Court from the practice of Law and was arrested and were sentenced
for Life imprisonment at the Marianas Island. All Filipino soldiers were disarmed and was
sent into exile in Mindanao. Those who were suspected of supporting the mutineers were
arrested and executed.
- The mutiny was unsuccessful and the participants were executed by the Spanish
government.
- On January 27, 1872 Governor General Izquierdo approved the death of sentences of forty-
one of the mutineers and eleven more were sentenced to death on February 6 of the same
year but this was change to life imprisonment.
- Izquierdo reported to the king that the “rebels” wanted to overthrew the Spanish
government and install the new king in the likes of Father Burgos and Zamora which
resulted in the execution of the three martyr priests: Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and
Jacinto Zamora. They were killed by using garrote on the 17 th day of February 1872 at
Bagumbayan.
- Other groups created a colony of Filipino expatriates in Europe, where they were able to
form a small organizations and print publications that were used to advance the claims of
the Philippine revolution.
3- Did Rizal Retract?
- Dr. Jose Rizal did not retract.
- His execution was recorded by the newspaper of Manila and Madrid. The morning after the
event it was published that the night before the execution, Rizal had retracted from all his
religious errors, abjured freemasonry, and spend the last hours of his life marrying
Josephine Bracken.
- The letter of retraction which was supposedly written by Rizal, was printed in full in most
newspapers and the government had ordered that it must be spread as widely as possible.
The letter was kept in secret by the government and when his family members asked for the
original copy, they said the letter was lost. It was a letter written by Rizal, their enemy and
they can use it against him, why would they lose it?
- Thirty-nine years later the original copy was founded in the archdiocesan archives.
Archbishop Nozaleda gave permission to Ricardo Pascual Ph.D to examin the Letter which he
concluded that the documents were forged.
- Those who knew Rizal took a look at the announcement and declared it as an “ecclesiastical
fraud”
- After the execution, Fredrich Stahl, a Manila pharmacist wrote a letter to Ferdinand
Bluemenritt, Rizal’s confidant, he wrote: "On the day of the execution, the Spaniards
published an article in all the local papers, according to which, Rizal, in a written
declaration made by him on the day of his death, retracted all his writings and deeds and
proclaims himself to be a repentant sinner and a loyal Spaniard. But nobody here believes
this, as the Spaniards publish the same thing about everyone who is shot. Besides, nobody
has ever seen his written declaration ... It is in the hands of the archbishop."
- There was certainly no signed letter of retraction, it was a contradiction for him, a man
who was so strong in conviction.
- The marriage with Josephine Bracken did no happened although they were living together
during his exile in Dapitan because there were no marriage certificate or public record
that can served as the proof of their marriage.
- He himself believed that there will be a strong likelihood of fraud after his death and this
intuition was not misplaced. He believed that the friars will be the cause of this fraud, this
was because they were fiery about his retraction. They came up with multiple ways to
make him sign his retraction including the involvement of the Jesuits, who were his
mentor.

4- Where did the rebellion happen?

- The cry of the rebellion in the Philippines happened in August 1896, northeast of Manila.
- During the Spanish colonial period, there were a lot of native groups who revolted against
the Spanish government but none of them succeeded.
- The Spaniards discovered the Katipunan an anti-colonial secret and due to the lack of arm
forces, Andres Bonifacio, the first leader of the Katipunan died in 1987 and Aguinaldo
became the leader of the newly reformed group.
- The Philippine nationalist had begun a rebellion against the Spaniards on 1986. In 1899, the
United States arrived in the Philippines and took over. They continued the revolt which
lasted up to 1913.
- The leader of the rebels became Emilio Aguinaldo who left the country after taking the
payoff from Spain.