The Cavite Mutiny and the martyrdom of three priests—Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos,

and Jacinto Zamora—who would eventually be known as GOMBURZA—make the year

1872 a momentous one.
This paper will discuss these historical and significant occurrences turning points in
Philippine history that have had a lasting impact, directly impacting the pivotal moments
of the Philippine Revolution at the close of the century. The varying accounts of this
year's events contributed to the controversy, despite the significance being beyond
dispute. An excerpt from the Two Faces of The 1872 Cavity Mutiny by Chris Antonette
Piedad-Pugay, retrieved from
An excerpt from THE TWO FACES OF THE 1872 CAVITE MUTINY by Chris
Antonette Piedad-Pugay, retrieved from The National Historical Commission of the
Philippines (NHCP). 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. Meanwhile, 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

The two accounts complemented and corroborated with one other, only that the
general's report was more spiteful. Initially, both Montero and Izquierdo scored out
that the abolition of privileges enjoyed by the workers of Cavite arsenal such as
nonpayment of tributes and exemption from forced labor were the main reasons of
the "revolution" as to how they called it, however, other causes were enumerated
by them including the 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. In particular, Izquierdo blamed the
unruly Spanish Press for “stockpiling” malicious propagandas grasped by the
Filipinos. He reported to the King of Spain that the “rebels” wanted to overthrow
the Spanish government to install a new “hari" in the likes of Fathers Burgos and
Zamora. The general even added that the native clergy enticed other participants
by giving them a 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. Izquierdo, in his report, lambasted the Indios as
gullible and possessed an innate propensity for stealing.

The two Spaniards deemed 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 insinuated
that the conspirators of Manila and Cavite 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.
 According to the accounts of the two, on 20 January 1872, the district of Sampaloc
celebrated the feast of the Virgin of Loreto, unfortunately, participants to the feast
celebrated the occasion with the usual fireworks displays. Allegedly, those in Cavite
mistook the fireworks 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.

When the news reached the iron-fisted Gov. Izquierdo, he readily ordered the
reinforcement of the Spanish forces in Cavite to quell the revolt. The “revolution” was
easily crushed when the expected reinforcement from Manila did not come ashore.
Major instigators including Sergeant Lamadrid were killed in the skirmish, while the
GOMBURZA were tried by a court-martial and were sentenced to die by strangulation.
Patriots like Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Antonio Ma. Regidor, Jose and Pio Basa and
other abogadillos were suspended by the Audencia (High Court) from the practice of
law, arrested and were sentenced with life imprisonment at the Marianas Island.
Furthermore, Gov. Izquierdo dissolved the native regiments of artillery and ordered the
creation of artillery force to be composed exclusively of the Peninsulares.
On 17 February 1872 in an attempt of the Spanish government and Frailocracia to
instill fear among the Filipinos so that they may never commit such daring act again, the
GOMBURZA were executed. This event was tragic but served as one of the moving
forces that shaped Filipino nationalism.

A Response to Injustice: The Filipino Version of the Incident

Dr. Trinidad Hermenigildo Pardo de Tavera, a Filipino scholar and researcher, wrote
the Filipino version of the bloody incident in Cavite. In his point of view, the incident was
a mere mutiny by the native Filipino soldiers and laborers of the Cavite arsenal who
turned out to be dissatisfied with the abolition of their privileges. Indirectly, Tavera
blamed Gov. Izquierdo’s cold-blooded policies such as the abolition of privileges of the
workers and native army members of the arsenal and the prohibition of the founding of
school of arts and trades for the Filipinos, which the general believed as a cover-up for
the organization of a political club.

On 20 January 1872, about 200 men comprised of soldiers, laborers of the arsenal,
and residents of Cavite headed by Sergeant Lamadrid rose in arms and assassinated
the commanding officer and Spanish officers in sight. The insurgents were expecting
support from the bulk of the army unfortunately, that didn’t happen. The news about the
mutiny reached authorities in Manila and Gen. Izquierdo immediately ordered the
reinforcement of Spanish troops in Cavite. After two days, the mutiny was officially
declared subdued.
 Tavera believed that the 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. 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. This turnout of events was believed by
Tavera, prompted the friars to do something drastic in their dire desire to maintain power
in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, in the intention of installing reforms, the Central Government of Spain

welcomed 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.

The friars, fearing that their influence in the Philippines would be a thing of the past,
took advantage of the incident and presented it to the Spanish Government as a vast
conspiracy organized throughout the archipelago with the object of destroying
Spanish sovereignty. Tavera sadly confirmed that the Madrid government came to
believe 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.

Convicted educated men who participated in the mutiny were sentenced life
imprisonment while members of the native clergy headed by the GOMBURZA were tried
and executed by garrote. This episode leads to the awakening of nationalism and
eventually to the outbreak of Philippine Revolution of 1896. The French writer Edmund
Plauchut’s account complimented Tavera’s account by confirming that the event
happened due to discontentment of the arsenal workers and soldiers in Cavite fort. The
Frenchman, however, dwelt more on the execution of the three martyr priests which he
actually witnessed.