Primary Source:

Excerpts from 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 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 if 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 a complete 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 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 Filipino,
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.