Pardo de Tavera's Account of the Cavite Mutiny

Source: Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, "Filipino Version of the Cavite Mutiny," in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia
Zaide, Documentary Sources of Philippine History. Volume 7 (Manila: National Book Store, 1990), 274-
280.

This uprising among the soldiers in Cavite was used as a powerful lovel 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.

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...

According to this account, the incident was merely a mutiny by Filipino soldiers and laborers of the
Cavite arsenal. Soldiers and laborers of the 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.

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.

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
analyzed the motivations of the 1872 Cavite Mutiny.