"ONE PAST BUT MANY

HISTORIES" CONTROVERSIES
AND CONFLICTING VIEWS IN
PHILIPPINE HISTORY:
CAVITE MUTINY
GROUP 2
R E P O R T I N G D AT E : A P R I L 1 3 , 2 0 2 4
 While the significance is
unquestioned, what made this year
controversial are the different sides
of the story, a battle of perspectives
supported by primary sources.
MUTINY
A REBELLION AGAINST AUTHORITY. COMES FROM AN OLD VERB,
"MUTINE" WHICH MEANS "REVOLT

CAVITE MUTINY
• Uprising of military personnel of Fort San Felipe (the
Spanish arsenal in Cavite, Philippines) on January 20, 1872.
• Around 200 soldiers and laborers rose up in the belief that
it would elevate to a national uprising. The mutiny was
unsuccessful, and government soldiers executed many of
the participants.
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 infl uencing the
decisive events of the Philippine Revolution
toward the end of the century
Spanish Version 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 offi cial report written by then
Governor General Rafael Izquierdo implicated the native
clergy, who were then, active in the movement toward
secularization of parishes.
JOSE MONTERO Y VIDAL
• Spanish historian
• His account centered on how the event
was an attempt in overthrowing the
Spanish government in the Philippines.
• His account on mutiny was criticized as
woefully biased
Primary Source: Excerpts from Montero's Account of the Cavite Mutiny Source: Jose Montero y Vidal, "Spanish
Version of the Cavite Mutiny of 1872," in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide, Documentary Sources of Philippine History

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.
The Spanish revolution which overthrew a secular throne; the propaganda
carried on by an unbridled press against monarchial principles, attentatory
of the most sacred towards the dethroned majesty: the democratic and
republican books and pamphlets; the speeches and preaching 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
independence. 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.

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 fl eet at
Cavite left for the South, and that all would be assassinated, including the
friars. But nobody gave importance of these notices. 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.
GOVERNOR RAFAEL IZQUIERDO
• Implicated the native clergy, who were active
in the movement toward secularization of
parishes.
• In a biased report, he highlighted the
attempt to overthrow the Spanish
government in the Philippines to install a
new "hari" in the persons of Father Burgos
and Zamora.
Primary Source: Excerpts from the Offi cial Report of GovGen
Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 Source: Rafael
Izquierdo, "Offi cial Report on the Cavite Mutiny," in
Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide, Documentary Sources of
Philippine History
• ...It seems defi nite 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. They encouraged the rebellion by
protesting what they called the injustice of having obliged the
workers in the Cavite arsenal to pay tribute
P r i m a r y S o u r c e : E x c e r p t s f r o m t h e O ffi c i a l R e p o r t o f G o v G e n I z q u i e r d o o n t h e C a v i t e M u t i n y o f 1 8 7 2 S o u r c e : R a f a e l I z q u i e r d o ,
" O ffi c i a l R e p o r t o n t h e C a v i t e M u t i n y , " i n G r e g o r i o Z a i d e a n d S o n i a Z a i d e , D o c u m e n t a r y S o u r c e s o f P h i l i p p i n e H i s t o r y

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 Indioshave no word
in their language to describe this diff erent 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.
Diff ering Versions of the
Events of 1872
Two other primary accounts exist
that seem to counter the accounts
of Izquierdo and Montero
THE SECULARIZATION OF MOVEMENT
• The Secularization of the Parishes was pioneered by Fr. Pedro Pelaez. It was a
move to give opportunities for the secular Filipino priests to occupy parishes,
the occupation of which they were really trained to do. Since the beginning of
the colonial period parishes have been traditionally awarded to missionaries,
the regular Spanish friars. This was due to the Spanish government's distrust
among natives. The colonial government continued to be in control of the
Church during the entire Spanish period in the Philippines. The only time the
native priests were given the opportunity to take care of parishes was during
the expulsion of the Jesuits in the Philippines. However, this only served as an
interlude for it was cut right after the Jesuits were returned by the Church to
service. After the untimely death of P. Pedro Pelaez, who was a casualty of an
earthquake that destroyed parts of the Manila Cathedral, his follower P. Jose
Burgos took his place to champion the secular priests. The ageing P. Mariano
Gomez and the young P. Jacinto Zamora partnered him in the movement.
• First, the account of Dr. Trinidad
Hermenigildo Pardo de Tavera, a Filipino
scholar and researcher, who wrote a Filipino
version of the bloody incident in Cavite.
Another account, this time by French writer
Edmund Plauchut, complemented Tavera's
account and analyzed the motivations of the
1872 Cavite Mutiny.
• According to this account, the incident was merely a mutiny by
Filipino soldiers and laborers of the Cavite arsenal to the
dissatisfactionarising 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 and 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.
• 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...
• 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 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
• The GOMBURZA is a collective name of the three martyred
priest, Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora,
who were tagged 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 stifl e 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.
• RIZAL DEDICATED HIS SECOND NOVEL, EL
FILIBUSTERISMO, TO THEIR MEMORY:
• "I DEDICATE MY WORK TO YOU AS
VICTIMS OF THE EVIL WHICH I
UNDERTAKE TO COMBAT..."
• 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."
Primary Source: Excerpts from Plauchut's Account of the Cavite Mutiny Source: Edmund Plauchut, "The Cavite Mutiny of
1872 and the Martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za," in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide, Documentary Sources of Philippine History,

• General Dela Torre... created a junta composed of high offi cials... including
dome friars and six Spanish offi cials... 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 fi nished work,
it was found that they came to the same conclusions

• ...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 as policy must really end in a strong
desire on the part of the other to repress cruelly.
The 1872
Revolution, or
the Cavite
Mutiny, had an
impact on the
1896 Revolution.
THANK YOU