CASE STUDY 2: WHAT HAPPENED IN THE CAVITE MUTINY?

(1872) – It is a historic year of two events: the Cavite Mutiny and the martyrdom of three priests: Mariano Gomez,
Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora (GOMBURZA).

* This events are very important milestones in the Philippine history and have caused ripples throughout time,
directly influencing the decisive events of the Philippines Revolution toward the end of the century.

*In this case study, we zoom in to the events of the Cavite Mutiny, a major factor in the awakening of nationalism
among the Filipinos of that time.

NOTE:
Martyrdom- the death or suffering of a martyr.
-a display of feigned or exaggerated suffering to obtain sympathy or admiration.
Mutiny- an open rebellion against the proper authorities, especially by soldiers or sailors against their
officers.
Nationalism- patriotic feeling, principles, or efforts.
-an extreme form of this, especially marked by a feeling of superiority over other countries.
-advocacy of political independence for a particular country.
Revolution- a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system.

SPANISH ACCOUNTS OF THE CAVITE MUNITY

The documentation of Spanish historian Jose Montero y Vidal centered on how the event was 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 official
report written by the Governor General Rafael Izquierdo implicated the native clergy, who were then. Active in
the movement toward secularization of parishes. These two accounts corroborated each other.

NOTE:
Clergy- the body of all people ordained for religious duties, especially in the Christian Church.
Corroborated- confirm or give support to (a statement, theory, or finding).
Rabid- having or proceeding from an extreme or fanatical support of or belief in something.
Secularization- to make secular; separate from religious or spiritual connection or influences; make
worldly or unspiritual; imbue with secularism.
-to change (clergy) from regular to secular.
-to transfer (property) from ecclesiastical to civil possession or use.
Woefully- in a manner expressing sorrow or misery.

PRIMARY SOURCE: EXCERPT 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, Volume 7 (Manila: National Book Store, 1990), 269-273.

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
monarchical principles, attentatory [sic] 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 the 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 towards 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 communication
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, 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 curate of Bacoor, the soul of the movement, whose energetic character and
immense wealth enabled him to exercise a strong influence.

NOTE:
Arsenal-an establishment for the manufacture or storage of arms and military equipment
Attentatory -
Curate-The term is derived from the Latin curatus (compare Curator).
-In other languages, derivations from curatus may be used differently. In French, the curé is the chief
priest of a parish,[1] as is the Italian curato, the Spanish cura, and the Filipino term kura pároko (which
almost always refers to the parish priest), which is derived from Spanish.
Friars-a member of any of certain religious orders of men, especially the four mendicant orders
(Augustinians, Carmelites, Dominicans, and Franciscans).
Fleet-a group of ships sailing together, engaged in the same activity, or under the same ownership.
Insurrection-a violent uprising against an authority or government.
Monarchical-of, relating to, suggestive of, or characteristic of a monarch or monarchy
Propaganda-capitalized : a congregation of the Roman curia having jurisdiction over missionary
territories and related institutions
-the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a
cause, or a person
-ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause;
also : a public action having such an effect
Secular- not bound by monastic vows or rules; specifically : of, relating to, or forming clergy not
belonging to a religious order or congregation a secular priest
-occurring once in an age or a century
-existing or continuing through ages or centuries
-of or relating to a long term of indefinite duration secular inflation
Unbridled-uncontrolled; unconstrained

PRIMARY SOURCES: EXCERPTS FROM THE OFFICIAL REPOST OF GOVERNOR IZQUIERDO

ON THE CAVITE MUTINY OF 1872

Source: Rafael Izquirdo, “Official Report on the Cavite Mutiny,” in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide,
Documentary Sources of Philippine History, Volume 7 (Manila: National Book Store, 1990), 281-286.

…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…
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 pretesting what
they called the injustice of having obliged the workers in the Cavite arsenal to pay tribute starting January 1 and
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 Indios have no word in their language to describe this different 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.

It is apparent that the accounts underscore the reason for the “revolution”: the abolition of privileges
enjoyed by the workers of the Cavite arsenal such as exemption from the payment of tribute and being employed
in polos y servicios, or force labor. They also identified other reasons which seemingly made the issue a lot more
serious, which include the presence of the native clergy, who, out of spite against the Spanish friars, “conspired
and supported” the rebels. Izquierdo, in an obviously biased report, highlighted that attempt to overthrow the
Spanish government in the Philippines to install a new “hari” in the persons of Fathers Burgors and Zamora.
According to him, native clergy attracted supporters by giving them charismatic assurance that their fight would
not fail because they had God’s support, aside from promises of lofty rewards such as employment, wealth, and
ranks in the army.
In the Spaniard’s accounts, the event of 1872 was premeditated, and was part of a big conspiracy among
the educated leaders, mestizos, lawyers, and residents of Manila and Cavite. They allegedly plan to liquidate high-
ranking Spanish officers, then kill the friars. The signal they identified among these conspirators of Manila and
Cavite was the rockets fired from Intramuros.
The accounts detail that on 20 January 1872, the district of Sampaloc celebrated the feast of the Virgin of
Loreto, and came with it were some fireworks display. The Cavitenos allegedly mistook this as the signal to
commence with the attack. The 200-men contigent led by Sergeant Lamadrid attacked Spanish officers at sight
and seized the arsenal. Izquierdo, upon learning of the attack, ordered the reinforcement of the Spanish forces in
Cavite to quell the revolt. The “revolution” was easily crushed, when the Manilenos who were expected to aid
the Cavitenos did not arrive. Leaders of the plot were killed in the resulting skirmish, while Fathers Gomez,
Burgos, and Zamora were tried by a court-martial and sentenced to be executed. Others who were implicated such
as Joaquin de Tavera, Antonio Ma. Regidor, Jose and Pio Basa, and other Filipino lawyers were suspended
from the practice of law, arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Marianas Island. Izquierdo dissolved
the native regiments of artillery and ordered the creation of an artillery force composed exclusively by
Peninsulares.
On 17 February 1872, the GOMBURZA were executed to serve as a threat to Filipinos never to attempt
to fight the Spaniards again.

NOTE:
Artillery -large-caliber guns used in warfare on land.
Liquidate – wind up the affairs of (a company or firm) by ascertaining liabilities and apportioning
assets.
-eliminate, typically by violent means; kill.
Lofty –of imposing height.
"the elegant square was shaded by lofty palms"
synonyms: tall, high, giant, towering, soaring, skyscraping
"a lofty tower"
- (of wool and other textiles) thick and resilient.
Quell- put an end to (a rebellion or other disorder), typically by the use of force.

DIFFERING ACCOUNTS OF THE EVENTS OF 1872

Two other primary accounts that seems to counter the accounts of Izquierdo and Montero. First, the
account of Dr. Trinidad Hermenegildo Pardo de Tavera, a Filipino scholar and researcher, who wrote a Filipino
version of the bloody incident in Cavite.

PRIMARY SOURCE: EXCERPT FROM PARDO DE TAVERA’S ACCOUNT OF THE CAVITE

MUTINY

Source: Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, “Filipino Version of 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 soldiers in Cavite was used a powerful level by the Spanish residents and by the
friars…the General Government in Madrid had announced its intention to deprive the friars in these
islands of powers of intervention in the 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 multiply by Filipino soldiers and laborers of the
Cavite arsenal to the dissatisfaction arising from the draconian policies of Izquiedor, such as the abolition of
privileges and the prohibition of the founding of the school of arts and trades of 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 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 the 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 Spaniards 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 o f
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

NOTE:
Artillery -large-caliber guns used in warfare on land.
Liquidate – wind up the affairs of (a company or firm) by ascertaining liabilities and apportioning
assets.
-eliminate, typically by violent means; kill.
Lofty –of imposing height.
"the elegant square was shaded by lofty palms"
synonyms: tall, high, giant, towering, soaring, skyscraping
"a lofty tower"
- (of wool and other textiles) thick and resilient.
Quell- put an end to (a rebellion or other disorder), typically by the use of force.
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 the
Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide, Documentary Sources of Philippine History, Volume 7 (Manila: National Book
Store, 1990), 251-268.

General La Torre… created a junta composed of high officials…including some friars and six Spanish
officials…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 finished work, it was found that they came to the
same conclusions. Here is the summary of the reforms they considered necessary to introduced:

1. Changes in tariff rates at customs, and the methods of collection.

2. Removal of surcharges on foreign importations.
3. Reduction of export fees.
4. Permission for foreigners to reside in the Philippines, buy real state, enjoy freedom of worship, and operate
commercial transports flying the Spanish flag.
5. Establishment of an advisory council to inform the Minister of Overseas Affairs in Madrid on the
necessary reforms to be implemented.
6. Changes in primary and secondary education.
7. Establishment of an Institute of Civil Administration in the Philippines, rendering unnecessary the sending
home of short-term civil officials every time there is a change of ministry.
8. Study of direct-tax system.
9. Abolition of the tobacco monopoly.

…The arrival in Manila of General Izquierdo…put a sudden end to all dreams of reforms… the
prosecutions instituted by the now Governor General were probably expected as a result of the bitter
disputes between the Filipino clerics and the friars. Such a policy must really end in a strong desire on the
part of the other to repress cruelly.

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
ranks of those who worked on public roads.

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 GOMBUZA, paved the way to the
revolution culminating in 1898.

NOTE:
Decreed –order (something) by decree.
"the government decreed a ban on any contact with the guerrillas"
synonyms: order, command, rule, dictate, pronounce, proclaim, ordain;
Inauguration- the beginning or introduction of a system, policy, or period.
Immemorial-originating in the distant past; very old.
Prophetically-accurately
The GOMBURZA is the describing or predicting
collective whatthree
name of the will happen in the
martyred future.
priests Mariano Gomez, Jose
"his warnings proved prophetic"
Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, who were tagged as the masterminds of the Cavite Mutiny. They
-relating to or characteristic of a prophet or prophecy.
were prominent
"the prophetic Filipino
books of thepriests charged with treason and sedition. It is believed that the Spanish
Old Testament"
clergy connected the priests to the mutiny as part of a conspiracy to stifle the movement of
secular priests who desired to have their own parishes instead to being merely assistants to the
regular friars. The GOMBURZA were executed by garrote in public, a scene purportedly
witnessed by a young Jose Rizal.

S 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.”

NOTE:
Enshrouding-envelop completely and hide from view.
Garrote-kill (someone) by strangulation, typically with an iron collar or a length of wire or cord.
Homage-special honor or respect shown publicly.
-formal public acknowledgment of feudal allegiance.
Sedition-conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch.
Treason-the crime of betraying one's country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or
overthrow the government.