Case Study 2: What

Happened in the Cavite

Mutiny
JOHN EDCEL R. VERDEJO, LPT
• The year 1872 is a historic year of two events: the Cavite Mutiny
and the martyrdom of the three priests: Mariano Gomez, Jose
Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, later on immortalized as
GOMBURZA. These events are very important milestones in
Philippine history and have caused ripples throughout time,
 directly influencing the decisive events of the Philippine
Revolution toward the end of the century. While the significance is
unquestioned, what made this year controversial are the different
sides to the story, a battle of perspectives supported by primary
sources. In this case study, we zoom in to the events of the Cavite
Mutiny, a major factor in the awakening of nationalism among the
Filipinos of that time.
Spanish Accounts of the Cavite Mutiny
• The documentation of Spanish historian Jose Montero y Vidal
centered on how the event was an attempt in overthrowing the
Spanish government in the Philippines. Although regarded as a
historian, his account of the mutiny was criticized as woefully
 biased and rabid for a scholar. Another account from the official
report written by then Governor General Rafael Izquierdo
implicated the native clergy, who were then, active in the
movement toward secularization of parishes. These two accounts
corroborated each other.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Montero's Account
of the Cavite Mutiny

•The abolition of privileges enjoyed by the

laborers of the Cavite arsenal of exemption
from the tribute was, according to some, the
 cause of the insurrection. There were,
however, other causes.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Montero's Account of the
Cavite Mutiny
• The Spanish revolution which overthrew a secular throne; the propaganda
carried on by an unbridled press against monarchical principles, attentatory
[sic] of the most sacred respects towards the dethroned majesty; the
democratic and republican books and pamphlets; the speeches and
preachings of the apostles of these new ideas in Spain; the outbursts of the
American publicists and the criminal policy of the senseless Governor whom
the Revolutionary government sent to govern the Philippines, and who put
into practice these ideas were the determining circumstances which gave
rise, among certain Filipinos, to the idea of attaining their indeendence.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Montero's Account
of the Cavite Mutiny
• It was towards this goal that they started to work, with
the powerful assistance of a certain section of the native
clergy, who out of spite toward friars, made common
cause with the enemies of the mother country.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Montero's Account
of the Cavite Mutiny
• At various times but especially in the beginning of year
1872, the authorities received anonymous
communications with the information that a great
uprising would break out against the Spaniards, the
minute the fleet at Cavite left for the South, and that all
would be assassinated, including the friars. But nobody
gave importance to these notices.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Montero's Account
of the Cavite Mutiny
• The conspiracy had been going on since the days of La
 Torre with utmost secrecy. At times, the principal leaders
met either in the house of Filipino Spaniard, D. Joaquin
Pardo de Tavera, or in that of the native priest, Jacinto
Zamora, and these meetings were usually attended by the
curate of Bacoor, the soul of the movement, whose
energetic character and immense wealth enabled him to
exercise a strong influence.
Primary Source: Excerpts from the Official Report of
Governor Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872
• ...It seems definite that the insurrection was motivated and
prepared by the native clergy, by the mestizos and native lawyers,
 and by those known here as abogadillos..
• The instigators, to carry out their criminal project, protested against
the injustice of the government in not paying the provinces for
their tobacco crop, and against the usury that some practice in
documents that the Finance department gives crop owners who
have to sell them at a loss.
Primary Source: Excerpts from the Official Report of
Governor Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872
• They encouraged the rebellion by protesting what they called the injustice
of having obliged the workers in the Cavite arsenal to pay tribute starting
January 1 and to render personal service, from which they were formerly
exempted. Up to now it has not been clearly determined if they planned
to establish a monarchy or a republic, because the Indios have no word in
 their language to describe this different form of government, whose head
in Filipino would be called hari; but it turns out that they would place at
the head of the government a priest... that the head selected would be D.
Jose Burgos, or D. Jacinto Zamora... Such is... the plan of the rebels, those
who guided them, and the means they counted upon for its realization.
Primary Source: Excerpts from the Official Report of
Governor Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872

• It is apparent that the accounts underscore the reason for

the "revolution": the abolition of privileges enjoyed by the
workers of the Cavite arsenal such as exemption from
payment of tribute and being employed in polos y
servicios, or force labor. They also identified other
 reasons which seemingly made the issue a lot more
serious, which included the presence of the native clergy,
who, out of spite against the Spanish friars, "conspired
and supported" the rebels.
Primary Source: Excerpts from the Official Report of
Governor Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872

• Izquierdo, in an obviously biased report, highlighted that

attempt to overthrow the Spanish government in the
Philippines to install a new "hari" in the persons of
Fathers Burgos and Zamora. According to him, native
clergy attracted supporters by giving them charismatic
 assurance that their fight would not fail because they had
God's support, aside from promises of lofty rewards such
as employment, wealth, and ranks in the army.
Primary Source: Excerpts from the Official Report of
Governor Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872

• In the Spaniard's accounts, the event of 1872 was

premeditated, and was part of a big conspiracy among
the educated leaders, mestizos, lawyers, and residents of
Manila and Cavite. They allegedly plan to liquidate high
ranking Spanish officers, then kill the friars. The signal
they identified among these conspirators of Manila and
 Cavite was the rockets fired from Intramuros.
Primary Source: Excerpts from the Official Report of
Governor Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872
• The accounts detail that on 20 January 1872, the district of
Sampaloc celebrated the feast of the Virgin of Loreto, and came
with it were some fireworks display. The Caviteños allegedly
mistook this as the signal to commence with the attack. The 200-
men contingent led by Sergeant Lamadrid attacked Spanish officers
at sight and seized the arsenal. Izquierdo, upon learning of the
attack, ordered the reinforcement of the Spanish forces in Cavite to
quell the revolt.
Primary Source: Excerpts from the Official Report of
Governor Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872

• The "revolution' was easily crushed, when the

Manileños who were expected to aid the
Caviteños did not arrive. Leaders of the plot were
killed in the resulting skirmish, while Fathers
Gomez, Burgos,and Zamora were tried by a court
martial and sentenced to be executed.
Primary Source: Excerpts from the Official Report of
Governor Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872
• Others who were implicated such as Joaquin Pardo de Tavera,
 Antonio Ma. Regidor, Jose and Pio Basa, and other Filipino lawyers
were suspended from the practice of law, arrested, and sentenced
to life imprisonment at the Marianas Island. Izquierdo dissolved
the native regiments of artillery and ordered the creation of an
artillery force composed exclusively by Peninsulares. On 17
February 1872, the GOMBURZA were executed to serve as a threat
to Filipinos never to attempt to fight the Spaniards again.
Differing Accounts of the Events of 1872
• Two other primary accounts exist that seem to
counter the accounts of Izquierdo and Montero.
First, the account of Dr. Trinidad Hermenegildo
 Pardo de Tavera, a Filipino scholar and researcher,
who wrote a Filipino version of the bloody
incident in Cavite.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Pardo de
Tavera's Account of the Cavite Mutiny
• This uprising among the soldiers in Cavite was used as a powerful
level by the Spanish residents and by the friars... the Central
Government in Madrid had announced its intention to deprive the
friars in these islands of powers of intervention in matters of civil
government and of the direction and management of the
university... it was due to these facts and promises that the
 Filipinos had great hopes of an improvement in the affairs of their
country, while the friars, on the other hand, feared that their power
in the colony would soon be complete a thing of the past.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Pardo de
Tavera's Account of the Cavite Mutiny

• ...Up to that time there had been no intention of

secession from Spain, and the only aspiration of
the people was to secure the material and
education advancement of the country...
Primary Source: Excerpts from Pardo de
Tavera's Account of the Cavite Mutiny
• According to this account, the incident was merely a
mutiny by Filipino soldiers and laborers of the Cavite
arsenal to the dissatisfaction arising from the draconian
policies of Izquierdo, such as the abolition of privileges
and the prohibition of the founding of the school of arts
and trades for Filipinos, which the General saw as a
smokescreen to creating a political club.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Pardo de
Tavera's Account of the Cavite Mutiny
• Tavera is of the opinion that the Spanish friars and Izquierdo
 used the Cavite Mutiny as a way to address other issues by
blowing out of proportion the isolated mutiny attempt. During
this time, the Central Government in Madrid was planning to
deprive the friars of all the powers of intervention in matters of
civil government and direction and management of educational
institutions. The friars needed something to justify their
continuing dominance in the country, and the mutiny provided
such opportunity
Primary Source: Excerpts from Pardo de
Tavera's Account of the Cavite Mutiny
• However, the Central Spanish Government introduced an
educational decree fusing sectarian schools run by the
 friars into a school called the Philippine Institute. The
decree aimed to improve the standard of education in the
Philippines by requiring teaching positions in these
schools to be filled by competitive examinations, an
improvement welcomed by most Filipinos.
•Another account, this time by French writer
Edmund Plauchut, complemented Tavera's
account and analvzed the motivations of the
1872 Cavite Mutiny
Primary Source: Excerpts from Plauchut's Account
of the Cavite Mutiny
• General La Torre... created a junta composed of high
officials... including some friars and six Spanish officials.... At
the same time there was created by the government in Madrid
a committee to investigate the same problems submitted to
the Manila committee. When the two finished work, it was
found that they came to the same conclusions.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Plauchut's Account
of the Cavite Mutiny
• Here is the summary of the reforms they considered
necessary to introduce:
1. Changes in tariff rates at customs, and the methods of
collection.
2. Removal of surcharges on foreign importations.
3. Reduction of export fees.
4. Permission for foreigners to reside in the Philippines, buy real
estate, enjoy freedom of worship, and operate commercial
transports flying the Spanish flag.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Plauchut's Account
of the Cavite Mutiny
5. Establishment of an advisory council to inform the Minister of
Overseas Affairs in Madrid on the necessary reforms to be
implemented.
6. Changes in primary and secondary education.
7. Establishment of an Institute of Civil Administration in the
Philippines, rendering unnecessary the sending home of short
term civil officials every time there is a change of ministry.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Plauchut's Account
of the Cavite Mutiny

8. Study of direct-tax system.

9. Abolition of the tobacco monopoly.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Plauchut's Account
of the Cavite Mutiny

...The arrival in Manila of General Izquierdo... put a

sudden end to all dreams of reforms... the
prosecutions instituted by the new Governor
General were probably expected as a result of the
bitter disputes between the Filipino clerics and the
friars. Such a policy must really end in a strong
desire on the part of the other to repress cruelly.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Plauchut's Account
of the Cavite Mutiny

In regard to schools, it was previously decreed that

there should be in Manila a Society of Arts and
Trades to be opened in March of 1871... to repress
the growth of liberal teachings, General Izquierdo
suspended the opening of the school... the day
previous to the scheduled inauguration.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Plauchut's Account
of the Cavite Mutiny
The Filipinos had a duty to render service on public roads
construction and pay taxes every year. But those who were
employed at the maestranza of the artillery, in the engineering
shops and arsenal of Cavite, were exempted from this obligation
from time immemorial... Without preliminaries of any kind, a
decree by the Governor withdrew from such old employees their
retirement privileges and declassified them into the ranks of those
who worked on public roads.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Plauchut's Account
of the Cavite Mutiny
The friars used the incident as a part of a larger conspiracy to
cement their dominance, which had started to show cracks
because of the discontent of the Filipinos. They showcased the
mutiny as part of a greater conspiracy in the Philippines by
Filipinos to overthrow the Spanish Government. Unintentionally,
and more so, prophetically, the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 resulted in
the martyrdom of GOMBURZA, and paved the way to the
revolution culminating in 1898.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Plauchut's Account
of the Cavite Mutiny
The GOMBURZA is the collective name of the three martyred priests
Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, who were tassed
as the masterminds of the Cavite Mutiny. They were prominent
Filipino priests charged with treason and sedition. It is believed that
the Spanish clergy connected the priests to the mutiny as part of a
conspiracy to stifle the movement of secular priests who desired to
have their own parishes instead of being merely assistants to the
regular friars. The GOMBURZA were executed by garrote in public,
a scene purportedly witnessed by a young Jose Rizal.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Plauchut's Account
of the Cavite Mutiny
Their martyrdom is widely accepted as the dawn of Philippine
nationalism in the nineteenth century, with Rizal dedicating his second
novel, El Filibusterismo, to their memory.
"The Government, by enshrouding your trial in mystery and pardoning
your co-accused, has suggested that some mistake was committed when
your fate was decided; and the whole of the Philippines, in paying
homage to your memory and calling you martyrs, totally rejects your
guilt. The Church, by refusing to degrade you, has put in doubt the
crime charged against you."