SPANISH VERSION OF THE CAVITE MUTINY OF 1872

By Jose Montero y Vidal

The Spanish version of the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 was written by the Spanish historian
Jose Montero y Vidal, in his book entitled Historia General de Filipinas (Madrid, 1895, Vol. III
pp. 566-595.) This narrative of Montero y Vidal, normally a good historian, was so woefully
biased that Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera commented that he, "in narrating the Cavite episode,
does not speak as a historian; he speaks as a Spaniard bent on perverting the facts at his
pleasure; he is mischievously partial. Unsupported by positive documentary evidence, this
Spanish historian exaggerated the mutiny of a few disgruntled native soldiers and laborers into
a revolt to overthrow Spanish rule -a seditious movement ---and involved the innocent Filipino
patriotic leaders including Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora, Jose Ma. Basa, Antonio Ma.
Regidor, Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, and others. Montero y Vidal’s version of the Cavite episode
of 1872 in English translation follows*

With the establishment in Spain of a government less radical than the one that
appointed La Torre, the latter was relieved from his post. His successor, D. Rafael de Izquierdo,
assumed control of the government of these islands April 4, 1871. The most eventful episode in
his rule was the Cavite revolt of 1872.

The abolition of the 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 monarchical principles, attentatory 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 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 the friars, made
common cause with the enemies of the mother country.

At various times but especially in the beginning of the 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. 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 the 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 (Cavite), the soul of the movement, whose energetic character and immense wealth
enabled him to exercise a strong influence.

The garrison of Manila, composed mostly of native soldiers, were involved in this
conspiracy, as well as a multitude of civilians. The plan was for the soldiers to assassinate their
officers, the servants, their masters, and the escort of the Captain-General at Malacañang, to
dispose of the governor himself. The friars and other Spaniards were later to have their turn.
The preconcerted signal among the conspirators of Cavite and Manila was the firing of rockets
from the walls of the city. The details having been arranged, it was agreed that the uprising
was to break out in the evening of the 20th of January, 1872. Various circumstances, however,
which might well be considered as providential, upset the plans, and made the conspiracy a
dismal failure.

In the district of Sampaloc, the fiesta of the patron saint, the Virgin of Loreto, was being
celebrated with pomp and splendor. On the night of the 20th, fireworks were displayed and
rockets fired into the air. Those in Cavite mistook these for the signal to revolt, and at nine-
thirty in the evening of that day two hundred native soldiers under the leadership of Sergeant
La Madrid rose up in arms, assassinated the commander of the fort and wounded his wife.

The military governor of Cavite, D. Fernando Rojas, dispatched two Spaniards to inform
the Manila authorities of the uprising but they were met on the way by a group of natives,
belonging to the Guias established by La Torre, who put them instantly to death. At about the
same time, an employee of the arsenal, D. Domingo Mijares, left Cavite in a war vessel for
Manila, arriving there at midnight. He informed the commandant of Marine of what had
occurred, and this official immediately relayed the news to Governor Izquierdo.

Early the next morning two regiments, under the command of D. Felipe Ginoves,
segundo cabo, left for Cavite on board the merchant vessels Filipino, Manila, Isabela I and
Isabela II. Ginoves demanded rendition and waited the whole day of the 21st for the rebels to
surrender, without ordering the assault of their position in order to avoid unnecessary shedding
of blood. After waiting the whole day in vain for the rendition of the rebels, Ginoves launched
an assault against the latter's position, early in the morning of the 22nd, putting to the sword
the majority of the rebels and making prisoners. On the same day an official proclamation
announced the suppression of the revolt.

As a result of the declarations made by some of the prisoners in which several

individuals were pointed out is instigators, Don Jose Burgos and D. Jacinto Zamora, curates of
the Cathedral, D. Mariano Gomez, curate of Bacoor (Cavite), several other Filipino priests, D.
Antonio Maria Regidor, lawyer and Regidor of the Ayuntamiento, D. Joaquin Pardo de Tavera,
Consejero de Administración, Pedro Carillo, Gervasio Sanchez and Jose Mauricio de Leon,
lawyer Enrique Paraiso and Jose and Pio Basa, employees, and Crisanto Reyes, Maximo Paterno
and several other Filipinos, were arrested.

The council of war, which from the beginning took charge of the causes in connection
with the Cavite uprising, passed the sentence death on forty-one of the rebels. On the 27th of
January the Captain-General fixed. His “cumplase" on the sentence. On the 6th of the following
month, eleven more were sentenced to death, but the Governor General, by decree of the day
following, commuted this sentence to life imprisonment. On the 8th, the sentence of death was
pronounced on Camerino and ten years imprisonment of eleven individuals of the famous
"Guias de la Torre," for the assassination of the Spaniards who, on the night of January 20th,
were sent to Manila to carry news of the uprising.
The same council on the 15th of February, sentenced to die by strangulation the Filipino
priests, D. Jose Burgos, D. Jacinto Zamora and D. Mariano Gomez, and Francisco Saldua; and
Maximo Inocencio, Enrique Paraiso and Crisanto de los Reyes to ten years imprisonment. Early
in the morning of the seventeenth of February, an immense multitude appeared on the field of
Bagumbayan to witness the execution of the sentence. The attending force was composed of
Filipino troops, and the batteries of the fort were aimed at the place of execution, ready to fire
upon the least sign of uprising. Gomez was executed first, then Zamora, then Burgos, and
lastly, Saldua.

On the 3rd of April, 1872, the Audiencia suspended, from the practice of law the
following men: D. Jose Basa y Enriquez; D. Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, D. Antonio Ma. Regidor,
D. Pedro Carillo, D. Gervasio Sanchez and D. Jose Mauricio de Leon.

Izquierdo had requested the sending to Manila of Spanish troops for the defense of the
fort as most of these found here were natives. In pursuance of Izquierdo’s request, the
government, by decree of April 4, 1872, dissolved the native regiment of artillery and ordered
the creation of an artillery force to be composed exclusively of Peninsulares. The latter arrived
in Manila in July, 1872. On the occasion of the arrival of the troops, the Sto. Domingo Church
celebrated a special mass at which high officials of the Government, the religious corporations,
and the general public, attended, upon invitation by the Governor end Captain-General of the
Philippines.
SPANISH VERSION OF THE CAVITE MUTINY OF 1872

By Dr. TH. Pardo de Tavera

The Filipino version of the bloody incident of Cavite in 1872 was written by Dr. Trinidad
H. Pardo de Tavera, Filipino scholar, scientist, and historical researcher. According to him, this
incident was merely a mutiny by the native Filipino soldiers and laborers of the Cavite arsenal
against the harsh policy of despotic Governor and Captain-General Rafael de lzquierdo (1871-
1873) which abolished their old-time privileges of exemption from paying the annual tribute and
from rendering the polo (forced labor). The loss of these privileges was naturally resented by
the soldiers and laborers. Some of them, impelled by volcanic wrath, rose in arms on the night
of January 20, 1872, and killed the commanding officer of the Cavite arsenal and other Spanish
officers. This was easily suppressed by the Spanish troops which were rushed from Manila. This
turbulent Cavite incident, which was magnified by the Spanish officials and friars into a revolt
for Philippine independence, is narrated by Pardo de Tavera, as follows*

The arrival of General Izquierdo (1871-1873) was the signal for a complete change in
the aspect of affairs. The new governor soon made it clear that his views were different from
those of La Torre -that there would be no change in the established form of government ---and
he at once announced that he intended to govern the people "with a crucifix in one hand and a
sword in the other."

His first official act was to prohibit the founding of a school of arts and trades, which
was being organized by the efforts and funds raised by natives of standing in the community,
but the founding of which did not tally with the views of the religious orders. Governor
Izquierdo believed that the establishment of the new school was merely a pretext for the
organization of a political club, and he not only did not allow it to be opened but made a public
statement accusing the Filipinos who had charge of the movement. All of those who had offered
their support to ex-Governor La Torre were classed as personas sospechosas (suspects), a term
that since that time has been used in the Philippine Islands to designate any person who
refused to servilely obey the wishes and whims of the authorities. The conservative element in
the islands now directed the governmental policy, and the educated Filipinos fell more and
more under the displeasure and suspicion of the governor.

The peace of the colony was broken by a certain incident which, though unimportant in
itself, was probably the origin of the political agitation which, constantly growing for thirty
years, culminated in the overthrow of the Spanish sovereignty in the Philippine Islands. From
time immemorial the workmen in the arsenal at Cavite and in the barracks of the artillery and
engineer corps had been exempt from the payment of the tribute tax and from obligation to
work certain days each year on public improvements. General Izquierdo believed the time
opportune for abolishing these privileges and ordered that in the future all such workmen
should pay tribute and labor on public improvements. This produced great dissatisfaction
among the workmen affected and the men employed in the arsenal at Cavite went on a strike,
but, yielding to pressure and threats made by the authorities, they subsequently returned to
their labors.
The workmen in the Cavite arsenal were all natives of that town and of the neighboring
town of San Roque. In a short while the dissatisfaction and discontent with the government
spread all over that section and even the entire troops became disaffected. On the night of
January 20, 1872, there was an uprising among the soldiers in the San Felipe fort, in Cavite,
and the commanding officer and other Spanish officers in charge of the fort were eliminated.
Forty marines attached to the arsenal and 22 artillerymen under Sergeant La Madrid took part
in this uprising, and it was believe that the entire garrison in Cavite was disaffected and
probably implicated. But if the few soldiers who precipitated the attack believed they would be
supported by the bulk of the army and that a general rebellion against Spain would be declared
in the islands, they were deceived. When the news of the uprising was received in Manila,
General Izquierdo sent the commanding general to Cavite, who reinforced the native troops,
took possession of the fort, and put the rebels to the sword. Sergeant La Madrid has been
blinded and badly burned by the explosion of a sack of powder and, being unable to escape,
was also cut down. A few of the rebels were captured and taken to Manila and there was no
further disturbance of the peace or insubordination of any kind.

This uprising among the soldiers in Cavite was used as a powerful lever by the Spanish
residents and by the friars. During the time that General La Torre was chief executive in the
Philippine Islands the influential Filipinos did not hesitate to announce their hostility to the
religious orders, and the Central Government in Madrid had announced its intention to deprive
the friars in these islands of all powers of intervention in matters of civil government and of the
direction and management of the management of the university. Moret, the colonial minister,
had drawn up a scheme of reforms by which he proposed to make a radical change in the
colonial system of government which was to harmonize with the principles for which the
revolution in Spain had been bought. 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, seared that their power in the colony would soon be completely a thing of the past.

The mutiny in Cavite gave the conservative element -that is, those who favored a
continuation of the colonial modus vivendi -an opportunity to represent to the Spanish
Government that a vast conspiracy was afoot and organized throughout the archipelago with
the object of destroying the Spanish sovereignty. They stated that the Spanish Government in
Madrid was to blame for the propagation of pernicious doctrines and for the hopes that had
been held out from Madrid to the Filipino people, and also because of the leanings of ex-
Governor La Torre and of other public functionaries who had been sent to the Philippine Islands
by the Government that succeeded Queen Isabella. The fall of the new rulers in Spain within a
few days, as well as other occurrences, seemed to accentuate the claims made by the
conservative element in the Philippine islands regarding the peril which threatened Spanish
sovereignty in the islands; it appeared as though the prophecies were about to be fulfilled. The
Madrid authorities were not able to combat public opinion in that country; no opportunity was
given nor time taken to make a thorough investigation of the real facts or extent of the alleged
revolution; the conservative element in the Philippine Islands painted the local condition of
affairs in somber tints; and the Madrid Government came to believe, or at least to suspect, that
a scheme was being concocted throughout the islands to shake off Spanish sovereignty.
Consistent with the precedents of their colonial rule, the repressive measures adapted to quell
the supposed insurrection were strict and sudden. No attempt appears to have been made to
ascertain whether or not the innocent suffered with the guilty, and the only end sought
appeared to be to inspire terror in the minds of all by making examples of a certain number, so
that none in the future should attempt, nor even dream of any attempt at secession.

Many of the best known Filipinos were denounced to the military authorities, and they,
the sons of Spaniards born in the islands and men of mixed blood (Spanish and Chinese), as
well as the Indians of pure blood, as the Philippine Malays were called, were persecuted and
punished without distinction by the military authorities.

Manner in which the punishment was meted out. Many years would have been necessary to
heal the wounds felt by the large number of families whose members were made the victims of
the unjust sentences of the military courts-martial. Nothing was done by the Government to
blot out the recollection of these actions; on the contrary, it appeared to be its policy to
continually bring up the memory of these occurrences as a reminder to the malcontents of what
they had to expect; but the only thing accomplished was to increase the popular discontent. It
was from that time that every disagreement between the Spaniards and Filipinos, however
trivial, was given a racial or political character; everytime a friar was insulted or injured in any
way, it was claimed to be an act of hostility to the Spanish nation.
OFFICIAL REPORT OF GOVERNOR IZQUIERDO ON THE CAVITE MUTINY OF 1872

Governor General Rafael Izquierdo reported to the Spanish Minister of War, dated
Manila, January 23, 1872, blaming the Cavite Mutiny on the native clergy, some local residents,
intellectuals, and even El Eco Filipino, a Madrid-based reformist newspaper; Significantly, he
calls the military mutiny an "insurrection", an "uprising" and a "revolution". The text of the
report is as follows*

From the summary of information received -that is, from the declaration made before
the fiscal --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. Some are
residents of Manila, others from Cavite, and some from the nearby provinces.

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
(officials) practice in (handling) documents that the Finance department gives crop owners who
have to sell them at a loss. They encouraged the rebellion by protesting whatthey called the
injustice of having obliged the workers in the Cavite arsenal to pay tribute starting January 1
(1872) and to render personal service, from which they were formerly exempted.

To seduce the native troops, they resorted to superstitions with which the indios are so
prone to believe; persuading them that the Chief of State (hart) would be an ecclesiastic and
the rest or the clergy who backed the uprising would celebrate daily for its success. Thus the
rebellion could not fail because God was with them; and those who would not revolt they would
kill immediately. Taking advantage of the ignorance of those classes and the propensity of the
Indio to steal, they offered (to those who revolted) the wealth of the Spaniards and of the
regular clergy, employment and ranks in the army; and to this effect they said that fifteen
native battalions would be created, in which the soldiers who revolted would have jobs as
officers and chiefs. The lawyers and abogadillos would direct the affairs of government, of the
administration and of justice.

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 Tagalog would be called hari; but it turns out that they would place
at the head of the government a priest; and there were great probabilities -nay, a certainty -
that the head selected would be D. Jose Burgos, or D. Jacinta Zamora, parish priests of S.
Pedro of Manila.

All the Spaniards, including the friars, would be executed except for the women; and
their belongings confiscated. Foreigners would be respected.

This uprising has roots, and with them were affiliated to a great extent the regiments of
infantry and artillery, many civilians and a large number of mestizos, indios and some ilustrados
from the provinces.

To start the revolution, they planned to set fire to the district of Tondo. Once the fire
was set and while the authorities were busy putting it out, the regiment of artillery with the
help of the part of the infantry would seize Fort Santiago of this Capital (they would then) fire
cannons to inform the rebels of Cavite (of their success). The rebels in Cavite counted on the
artillery detachment that occupied the fort and on the navy helped by 500 natives led by the
pardoned leader Camerino. This person and his men, located at the town of Bacoor and
separated from the fort of San Felipe by a small arm of the sea, would cross the water and
reach the fort where they would find arms and ammunition.

The rebels (in Cavite) made the signals agreed upon by means of lanterns, but the
native civilians (in Bacoor) although they tried it, failed because of the vigilance of the (Spanish)
navy that had placed there a gunboat and armed vessels.

Loyalists who went to arrest the parish priest of Bacoor found an abandoned vessel
loaded with arms, including carbines and revolvers.

The uprising should have started in Manila at midnight abetted by those in Cavite, but
the rebels of this city went ahead of time. The civil-military governor of Cavite and the
commanders of Regiment 7 took very timely precautions; they knew how to keep the soldiers
loyal (although these had been compromised) and behaved with valor and gallantry, obliging
the rebels to take refuge in the fort of San Felipe.

Such is your Excellency, the plan of the rebels, those who guided them, and the means
they counted upon for its realization. For a long time now, through confidential information and
others of a vaguer character, I have been told that since 1869 -taking advantage of a group
that had left behind plans for an uprising, but was not carried out because of the earthquake of
1862 -there existed in Manila a junta or center that sought and found followers; and that as a
pretext they had established a society for the teaching of arts and trades. Months ago I
suspended it indirectly, giving an account to Your Excellency in my confidential report No. 113
dated August 1, (1871) to which Your Excellency has not yet replied.

It has also been said that this center or junta received inspiration from Madrid, where
newspapers of advanced ideas flourish; to sustain them subscriptions are (locally) solicited; in
effect, newspapers such as El Eco Filipino were sent here from Madrid, which were distributed
by persons now imprisoned, whose articles thundered against everything that can be found
here.

As in the case of my worthy predecessor, I have continuously received anonymous

letters, but because I was confident that I could put down and punish any uprising, I gave no
credit (to these reports) in order not to cause alarm; and. instead continued a vigilant watch
wherever possible within the limited means at my command. I had everything ready (for any
untoward possibility), taking into account the limited peninsular force which composes the
army.