ERICA G LUCAS Readings in Philippine History

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CASE 2. THE 1872 CAVITE MUTINY

1872 is a historic and very significant year of events which lead to a meaningful part of our
history in effect of awakening nationalism among Filipinos. There were two major events
happened in 1872, first was the 1872 Cavite Mutiny and the other was the martyrdom of the three
martyr priests in the persons of Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora
(GOMBURZA).

On January 20, 1872, two hundred Filipinos employed at the Cavite arsenal staged a revolt
against the Spanish government’s voiding of their exemption from the payment of tributes. The
Cavite Mutiny led to the persecution of prominent Filipinos; secular priests Mariano Gómez, José
Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora (GOMBURZA) were tagged as the masterminds of the uprising. The
priests were charged guilty of treason as the instigators of a mutiny in the Kabite navy-yard a
month before and sedition by the Spanish military tribunal a ruling believed to be part of a
conspiracy to stifle the growing popularity of Filipino secular priests and the threat they posed to
the Spanish clergy. Jose Montero y Vidal, a prolific Spanish historian documented the event and
highlighted it as an attempt of the Indios to overthrow the Spanish government in the Philippines.
As the acting Gov. Gen. Rafael Izquierdo’s official report magnified the event and made use of it
to implicate the native clergy, which was then active in the call for secularization. Gov. Izquierdo
immediately ordered the reinforcement of the Spanish forces in Cavite to quell the revolt. The
revolution went eased up. The GOMBURZA were seized and tried by a court-martial and were
sentenced to die by strangulation. Fearlessly, in attempt of the Spanish government to instill fear
among the Filipinos went reversed. The GomBurZa were publicly executed, by garrote, on the
early morning of February 17, 1872 at Bagumbayan. This tragic event served as one of the moving
forces that shaped Filipino nationalism.

There are other causes of the Cavite mutiny and not only the polo y servicio though it is
the primary cause. The said polo y servicio is an order from Governor-General Carlos to subject
the soldiers of the Engineering and Artillery Corps to personal taxes, from which they were
previously exempt. The taxes required them to pay a monetary sum as well as to perform forced
labor. From the different accounts like Account of Jose Montero y Vidal, Account of Trinidad
Pardo de Tavera, Account of Edmund Plauchut they met in common that the immediate cause to a
peremptory order from the governor, Izquierdo, is the exacting personal taxes from the Filipino
laborers in the engineering and artillery corps in the Cavite arsenal, and requiring them to perform
forced labor like ordinary subjects. Until then, these workers in the arsenal revolt from exemptions
from both taxes and forced labor. And they mutined. According also from the accounts of
Governor-General Rafael Izquierdo y Gutiérrez and Spanish Accounts of the Mutiny, they
mentioned that the mutiny is powered and prepared by the powerful native clergy, mestizos and
lawyers as a signal of objection against the injustices of the government.

Different accounts in the Cavite mutiny also highlighted other probable causes of the
“revolution” which includes Spanish Revolution which overthrew the secular throne, dirty
propagandas proliferated by unrestrained press, democratic, liberal and republican books and
pamphlets reaching the Philippines, and most importantly, the presence of the native clergy who
out of animosity against the Spanish friars, “conspired and supported” the rebels and enemies
of Spain. The Cavite uprising was one of the manifestations of this dissatisfaction over conditions
in the army.

Onwards to this event, Spanish friars and Izquierdo used the Cavite Mutiny as a powerful
lever by magnifying it as a full-blown conspiracy involving not only the native army but also
included residents of Cavite and Manila, and more importantly the native clergy to overthrow the
Spanish government in the Philippines. Native clergy enticed other participants by giving them
charismatic assurance that their fight will not fail because God is with them coupled with
handsome promises of rewards such as employment, wealth, and ranks in the army. It is
noteworthy that during the time, the Central Government in Madrid announced its intention to
deprive the friars of all the powers of intervention in matters of civil government and the direction
and management of educational institutions. Resulting to deter the friars that their dominance or
influence in the country will be advantageous in providing such an opportunity for the Filipinos to
destroy Spanish sovereignty. However, in the intention of installing reforms, the Central
Government of Spain introduced an educational decree authored by Segismundo Moret promoted
the fusion of sectarian schools run by the friars into a school called Philippine Institute. The
decree proposed to improve the standard of education in the Philippines by requiring teaching
positions in such schools to be filled by competitive examinations. This improvement was warmly
received by most Filipinos in spite of the native clergy’s zest for secularization. That, Tavera
confirmed that the Madrid government came to believed that the scheme was true without any
attempt to investigate the real facts or extent of the alleged “revolution” reported by Izquierdo and
the friars.

The friars used the incident as part of a larger conspiracy to cement their dominance,
which had started to show cracks because of the discontent of the Filipinos. With this, Jose
Montero y Vidal, a Spanish historian reckoned that the event of 1872 was planned earlier and was
thought of it as a big conspiracy among educated leaders, mestizos, abogadillos or native lawyers,
residents of Manila and Cavite and the native clergy. They planned to liquidate high-ranking
Spanish officers to be followed by the massacre of the friars. The alleged pre-concerted signal
among the conspirators of Manila and Cavite was the firing of rockets from the walls of
Intramuros. Made to happen during the occasion of the feast in Virgin of Loreto with the display
of fireworks mistook by the group in Cavite as the sign for the attack, and just like what was
agreed upon, the 200-men contingent headed by Sergeant Lamadrid launched an attack targeting
Spanish officers at sight and seized the arsenal.

Thereupon, from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines in the article 'THE
TWO FACES OF THE 1872 CAVITE MUTINY' posted on 2012 unraveled some basic facts in
considering the accounts of the 1872 Cavite Mutiny about the happenings behind it. First, there
was dissatisfaction among the workers of the arsenal as well as the members of the native army
after their privileges were drawn back by Gen. Izquierdo; Second, Gen. Izquierdo introduced rigid
and strict policies that made the Filipinos move and turn away from Spanish government out of
disgust; Third, the Central Government failed to conduct an investigation on what truly transpired
but relied on reports of Izquierdo and the friars and the opinion of the public; Fourth, the happy
days of the friars were already numbered in 1872 when the Central Government in Spain decided
to deprive them of the power to intervene in government affairs as well as in the direction and
management of schools prompting them to commit frantic moves to extend their stay and power;
Fifth, the Filipino clergy members actively participated in the secularization movement in order to
allow Filipino priests to take hold of the parishes in the country making them prey to the rage of
the friars; Sixth, Filipinos during the time were active participants, and responded to what they
deemed as injustices; and Lastly, the execution of GOMBURZA was a blunder on the part of the
Spanish government, for the action severed the ill-feelings of the Filipinos and the event inspired
Filipino patriots to call for reforms and eventually independence. There may be different versions
of the event, but one thing is certain, the 1872 Cavite Mutiny paved way for a momentous
Independence in 1898.