THE 19th CENTURY PHILIPPINE SOCIETY, ECONOMY AND THE

CHINESE MESTIZO
Cash crop - crops cultivated for export.
Decree - an order issued by a legal authority; a policy pronouncemSent.
Galleon trade - from 1565-1815, this was the form of trade between the Philippines and
Mexico. The galleons would sail to Mexico loaded with goods and return to the Philippines
carrying the payment in silver.
insulares - pure-blooded Spanish born in the Philippines.
Mestizo- a person with mixed ancestry- one parent is Chinese or Spanish and the other is a
native; an important sector of the population in nineteenth century Philippines.
Merchant houses - firms established in Manila and other cities by foreign traders.
pacto de retroventa - an agreement that allowed a landowner to sell his/her land with the
guarantee that he/she could by the land back at the same price.
Parian-Chinese enclave established in 1581 outside the walls of Intramuros. The Chinese were
forced to live in the Prian.
Peninsulares - pure-blooded Spanish born in Spain.
Principalia - wealthy pure-blooded natives said to have descended from the kadatoan class.
Sangley - a term that proliferated in the Spanish Philippines to refer tom people of pure
Chinese descent; came from the Hokkien word " seng-li" meaning business.
Social stratification - a way by which people in a society are categorized based on socio-
economic as well as political standards.
THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF PHILIPPINE ECONOMY AND SOCIETY

 Late eighteenth century, the monarchy in Spain experienced a dynatic shift from the
Habsburg to the Bpurbons
 Spain recalibrated colonial policies that would have an effect on the Philippines.
 With the goal of invigarating the profatibility if the colonies like the
Philippines, Bourbon policies and reforms were carried out.
 First governor -general to the Philippines under the Bourbon mandate was Jose de
Basco y Varga
 Galleon Trade as main economic institution existing in the Philippines is already
losing enterprises during the time of Jose de Basco y Vargas.
 Basco established the Royal Philippine company in 1785 to finance agricultural
projects and manage the new trade as well as other Asian market.
 Some of the major investments came from British and American traders.
 The first half of the nineteenth century, majority of the exports of the Philippines
came from cash crops like tobacco, sugar, cotton, indigo, abaca, and coffee.
  The provinces shifted to cultivating cash crops, land ownership and management
began to be a concern.
 Farmers felt the pressure of the economy while the hacenderos grabbed the
opportunity. For example, when a small landowner needed capital and money, he
would engage in a pacto de retroventa, an agreement of sale guaranteeing that he
could buy the land back at the same price at which it was sold.
  They would forfeit the land and would be forced to become tenant farmers , or
kasama
 As the growing economy required better management of lands, inquilinos emerged,
renting land to sublet it to smaller farmers.
 Pre-colonial times, the natives of the Philippines had had trade relations with the
chinese.
 Height of the Galleon Trade- it was also Chinese products that comprised most the
goods being traded.
 The influx of Chinese settlements in the Philippines made the Spaniards suspicious
of the Chinese.
 Stringent state policies towards the sangley ranging from higher taxes, the
restriction of movement with the establishment of the Chinese enclave (the Parian),
to actual policies of expulsion.
 Chinese, however, proved to be "necessary outsiders" in Philippine colonial
economy and society.
  Spaniards were wary of the Chinese, they realized the importance that the latter
played in sustaining the economy. 
  The goods loaded on the galleons to the development of retail trade, the Chinese
enlivened the economy.
   The Chinese became integrated into colonial society, giving rise to intermarriages
with indios that gave birth to Chinese mestizos.
  The Chinese mestizos assumed an important role in the economy all throughout the
Spanish colonial period.

THE CHINES AND CHINESE MESTIZOS

 Pre-colonial times, the natives of the Philippines had had trade relations with the
Chinese.
 Height of the Galleon Trade- it was also Chinese products that comprised most the
goods being traded.
 The influx of Chinese settlements in the Philippines made the Spaniards suspicious
of the Chinese.
 Stringent state policies towards the sangley ranging from higher taxes, the
restriction of movement with the establishment of the Chinese enclave (the Parian),
to actual policies of expulsion.
 Chinese , however, proved to be "necessary outsiders" in Philippine colonial
economy and society
 Spaniards were wary of the Chinese, they realized the importance that the latter
played in sustaining the economy.
 The goods loaded on the galleons to the development of retail trade, the Chinese
enlivened the economy.
 The Chinese became integrated into colonial society, giving rise to intermarriages
with indios that gave birth to Chinese mestizos.
 The Chinese mestizos assumed an important role in the economy all throughout the
Spanish colonial period.

IMPACT ON LIFE IN THE COLONY

 The new economy demanded a more literate population to address the rising need
for a more professionalized workforce to man the trading activities in Manila and
other centers.
 This demand compelled the issuance of the colonial government order in 1836 that
required all towns to set up primary schools to teach the population hoe to read and
write.
 The passage of an education decree in 1863 that mandated free primary education.
 The nineteenth century also gave birth to many schools that addressed the growing
demand established during this time.
 Manila became a trading center, it became a viable destination for people seeking
better opportunities or those wanting to escape the worsening conditions in the
farmlands.
  Increased rate of internal migration raised several concerns. 1, people flocked the
centers of trade like Manila. Overcrowding implied issues in living quarters,
sanitation and public health, and increase in criminality. 2. the continuous
 movement of people made tax collection extra difficult., in order to mitigate these
concerns, one measure implemented was the 1849 decree of Governor-General
Narciso Claveria that urged the people in the colony to adopt surnames.
  Catalogo de apellidos drawn up, the colonial government assigned surnames to
people and forbade changing names at will. 
 Policies like the registration and possessions of a cedula personal bearing one's
name and residence, the colonial government sought to have a better surveillance
mechanism.
  Guardia civil established.

RENEGOTIATING SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

PENINSULAR - Pure blooded Spaniard born in the Iberian Peninsula (i.e., Spain)
INSULAR- Pure-blooded Spaniard born in the Philippines
MESTIZO- Born of mixed parentage, a mestizo can be: 1. Spanish mestizo- one parent is
Spanish, the other is a native;or  2. Chinese mestiz0- one parent is Chinese, the other is a native
PRINCIPALIA- Wealthy pure-blooded native supposedly descended from the kadatoan class 
INDIO- Pure-blooded native of the Philippines
CHINO INFIEL- Non-Catholic pure blooded Chinese
 

Summary
  This module aimed to situate Rizal's within the larger context of the nineteenth century, it
focused on the economic and social developments in the century that shaped the world in
which Rizal lived. The Philippines, being part of the wider Spanish empire, underwent changes
when the Spanish Crown also had a dynastic shift in the nineteenth century. With this came the
Bourbon reforms that brought new policies of economic reorientation for the colonies. With
the development of the cash crop economy and the opening of Manila and other cities to world
trade, the economy boomed in the nineteenth century. 
      This development in the economy also had a profound impact on the social and political
landscapes. The new economy resulted in changes in policies about education and heightened
the surveillance and regulatory mechanism of the state .Furthermore, the nineteenth century
saw the ascendance of the mestizo and principalia classes that would assert their relevance in
society. 
AGRARIAN DISPUTES

Conquistador - a Spanish conqueror.

Caballero -a small tract of land included in a land grant.
Canon - a measure equal to 75 liters.
Hacienda - large estates that were used for raising livestock and agricultural production.
inquilino – a tenat who rented land from the friars and subleased the land to sharecroppers.
principales - ruling elite class.
Sharecropper ( kasama) - an individual who rented the land from an inquilino and worked the
land.
sitio de ganado mayor - a large tract of land included in a land grant.

Introduction
     In 1891, Jose Rizal was in Hong Kong when he received distressing news about his family who
are, at that time, embroiled in a litigation case concerning the Hacienda de Calamba . He heard
that the Spanish authorities were summoning his mother , Dona Teodora  and two younger
sisters  Josefa, and Trinidad, for further  investigation . In a show of support , he wrote to his
family, " I am following your cavalry step by step. Do not be afraid , I am doing all I can ....
Patience , a little patience. Courage!"
    Scholars and students of history agree that the conflict between his family and the
Dominicans over the hacienda greatly affected Rizal.  
Presentation
Jose Rizal was in Hongkong when he received distressing news about his family who were, at
that time, embroiled in a litigation case concerning the Hacienda de Calamba. Scholars and
students of history agree that the conflict between his family and the Dominicans over the
hacienda greatly affected Rizal.
 
BRIEF HISTORY OF FRIARS ESTATES IN THE PHILIPPINES
 The origin of the friars estates can be traced back to land grants awarded to the early
Spanish conquistadores who arrived in the Philippines during the late sixteenth and
early seventeenth centuries.
 120 Spaniards were given grants that were often composed of a large tract of land
known as sitio de ganado mayor (measuring 1,742 hectares) and smaller tracts of land
known as caballerias ( measuring 42.5 hectares).
 The Spaniards hacenderos failed to develop their lands for three reasons:
1. The Spanish population in the Philippines was transient. It was a common
practice for Spanish administrator to return to Spain after having served in the
country.
2. The market for livestock products, which haciendas offered, remained relatively
small until the latter parts of the Spanish colonial period.
3. The Galleon Trade that was based in Manila offered bigger economic rewards
and attracted more Spaniards.
 Spanish hacenderos lacked the interest and inclination to develop their lands, the
religious orders soon took over the task.
 Land was acquired by the religious orders through various means.
 The lands were donated by Spaniards seeking spiritual benefits.
 There were cases, too, in which estates that had been heavily mortgaged to the
ecclesiastics were eventually purchased by the religious orders themselves.
 A number of Filipino principales also contributed to the formation of the friar estates
through donations and sales.
 Despite these methods , there persisted a commonly held belief among the Filipinos
that the religious orders had no titles to their lands and that they had acquired these
lands through usurpation or other dubious means.
 Religious estates in the Tagalog region continued to grow that by the nineteenth
century, they constituted approximately 40 percent of the provinces of Bulacan ,Tondo
(presently Rizal), Cavite ,and Laguna.
 Agrarian relations in the haciendas developed in the time.
 The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,the social structure found in
the haciendas was primarily composed of lay brother administrators were under the
direct authority of the heads of their religious orders, they were relatively free to make
their own decisions on administrative affairs.
 Tenants on the other hand, were expected to work the land and pay an annual rent,
which was usually a fixed amount of harvest and in later centuries, money.
  Mid-eighteenth century, an expanding economy based on exporting agricultural crops
ushered in change and gradually put into place and inquilino system.
 An individual rented land for a fixed annual amount, known as canon.
 The inquilino or lessee was also expected to render personal services to his landlords.
 The inquilino failed to satisfy these requirements, he could face expulsion from the land.
 The inquilino,in turn would sub-lease the land to a kasama or sharecropper who could
then take on the task of cultivating the soil.
 A three - tiered system emerged with the landlords at the top, the inquilinos at the
middle,and the sharecroppers at the bottom.
 The religious hacenderos freed themselves from the social responsibilities borne from a
direct interactions with the kasama.
 The sharecroppers, on the other hand, benefitted from the arrangement because their
labor obligations to the religious estates allowed them to be exempted from the
responsibilities of forced labor demanded by the Spanish government .
 The inquilino paid his rent to the religious hacenderos and deducted his own share, the
remaining amount of income would then be divided among all the sharecroppers.
 Change in the social structure and land tenure practices would eventually render the
haciendas as sites of contestation among the Spanish religious hacenderos ,the
inquilinos ,and the sharecroppers.
 
HACIENDA DE CALAMBA CONFLICT
 1759- Hacienda de Calamba owned by several Spanish laymen
 1759, a destitute Spanish layman, Don Manuel Jauregui, donated the lands to the Jesuits
on the condition that he would be allowed to live in
  the Jesuit monastery for the rest of his life.
 1803 - the government sold the property to a Spanish layman, Don Clemente de Azansa,
for 44,507 pesos.
 When Don Clemente died 1883 the Hacienda de Azansa which measured 16,424
hectares was purchased by the Dominicans for 52,000 pesos
 Many families from neighboring towns had migrated to the hacienda in search of
economic opportunities
 Among the families that arrived at the hacienda were Rizal’s ancestors, who eventually
became one of the principal inquilinos in the hacienda.
 Rizal’s family rented one of the largest leased lands, measuring approximately 380
hectares.
 Sugar was a main commodity planted in the hacienda as there was a demand for the
crop in the world market.
 1883- Paciano Rizal wrote that the friars were collecting rents without issuing the usual
receipts.
 Two years later, the tenants failed to pay their tenants because the rent had supposedly
increased while sugar prices had remained low. To punish the tenants for not paying the
rent, the Dominicans declared the lands vacant and invited residents of other towns to
take over the tenancies.
 Only few outsiders responded to the Dominican’s invitation, the friars weakened their
positions.
 Most tenants, except for four or five, were spared from eviction.
 Charges against the friars continued with Rizal’s brother-in-law, Mariano Herboso,
specially complaining about the yearly increase in rentals, faulty irrigation systems, and
failure to issue receipts.
 Coupled with these problems was the fact that at this time, the price of sugar continued
to decline in the world market.
 Paciano at one point, considering giving back his lands to the friars and clearing land
elsewhere
 Problem continued to escalate when in 1887, the colonial government demanded from
the tenants of the hacienda a report on the income and production of the state because
they suspected that the Dominicans were evading payment of their taxes.
 The tenants complied and submitted a report, but they also attached a petition
authored by Jose Rizal.
 The petition presented a list of grievances against the hacienda owners including a
complaint on the increasing amount of rent.
 Some of the tenant began to withhold rents.
 As a form of retaliation, the friars began to evict tenants who refused to pay rent in
1891
 Those who persisted still in resisting the friars were eventually expelled
  They were exiled to remote areas in the country were Rizal’s parents, brother, and
sisters
 Rizal had worked on reversing the decision of the Philippine courts, his family’s exile
would only be lifted upon the issuance of a decree from the another governor-general
 The experience affected Rizal deeply and the increasing despair he felt from the event
would be reflected in his second novel, El Filibusterismo
 
Summary 
     This module presented a brief history of the hacienda from its beginnings a royal land grant
rewarded to Spaniards who had rendered  to Spaniards who had rendered  exemplary service
to the Spanish Crown. Later, these lands came into the  possession of the friars by way of
purchase or donation. Also pointed out this module was the in landlord-tenant to a three-tiered
one with landlords, inquilinos, and sharecroppers. 

EMERGING NATIONALISM

piscopal visitation-  an official pastoral visit conducted by the bishop on a diocese to examine
the conditions of a congregation; often done once every three years
garrote- an apparatus used for capital punishment in which an iron collar is tightened around a
condemned person’s neck
polo- system of forced labor that required Filipino males from 16 to 60 years old to render
service for a period of 40 days
regular clergy- priests who belong to religious orders
secular clergy- priests who do not belong to religious orders and are engaged in pastoral work
tribute- system of taxation imposed by the Spanish colonial government on the Filipinos in
order to generate resources for the maintenance of the colony.
Introduction
  When Rizal published El Filibusterismo in 1891, he dedicated the book to the three martyred
priest, Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora. In his dedication, he wrote:
                I have the right to dedicate my work to you as victims of the evil which I undertake to
combat. And while we await expectantly upon Spain someday to restore your good name and
cease to be answerable for your death, let these pages serve as a tardy wreath of dried leaves
over your unknown tombs, and let it be understood that everyone who without clear proofs
attacks your memory stains his hands in your blood!
Rizal was 10 years old when the three priest were executed, the events of 1872 would play a
decisive role in shaping Rizal’s ideas and decisions.
Presentation
The 1872 Cavite Mutiny
 One hundred and forty years ago, on January 20, 1872, about 200 Filipino military
personnel of Fort San Felipe Arsenal in Cavite, Philippines, staged a mutiny which in a
way led to the Philippine Revolution in 1896. The 1872 Cavite Mutiny was precipitated
by the removal of long-standing personal benefits to the workers such as tax (tribute)
and forced labor exemptions on order from the Governor General Rafael de Izquierdo.
 Izquierdo replaced Governor General Carlos Maria de la Torre some months before in
1871 and immediately rescinded Torre’s liberal measures and imposed his iron-fist rule.
He was opposed to any hint of reformist or nationalistic movements in the Philippines.
He was in office for less than two years, but he will be remembered for his cruelty to the
Filipinos and the barbaric execution of the three martyr-priests blamed for the mutiny:
Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, later collectively called
“Gomburza.”
 The mutineers were led by Sgt. Fernando La Madrid; they seized the Fort and killed the
Spanish officers. Fearing a general uprising, the Spanish government in Manila sent a
regiment under General Felipe Ginoves to recover the Fort. The besieged mutiny was
quelled, and many mutineers including Sgt. La Madrid were killed. Later, others were
sentenced to death or hard labor.
 Izquierdo used the mutiny to implicate Gomburza and other notable Filipinos known for
their liberal leanings. Prominent Filipinos such as priests, professionals, and
businessmen were arrested on flimsy and trumped-up charges and sentenced to prison,
death, or exile. These include Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Jose Basa, and Antonio M.
Regidor. It was said that the Cavite mutineers got their cue from Manila when they saw
and heard fireworks across the Manila Bay which was really a celebration of the feast of
the Lady of Loreto in Sampaloc.
 When the Archbishop of Manila, Rev. Meliton Martinez, refused to cooperate and
defrock the priests, the Spanish court-martial on February 15 went ahead and
maliciously found Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora guilty of treason for instigating
the Cavite mutiny. Two days later, the three priests were put to death by garrotte in
Bagumbayan, now known as Luneta. (Garrote was a barbaric Spanish method of
execution in which an iron collar was tightened around the prisoner’s neck until death
occurred.)
 Father Burgos was of Spanish descent, born in the Philippines. He was a parish priest of
the Manila Cathedral and had been known to be close to the liberal Governor General
de la Torre. He was 35 years old at the time and was active and outspoken in advocating
the Filipinization of the clergy. He was quoted as saying, “Why shall a young man strive
to rise in the profession of law or theology when he can vision no future for himself but
obscurity?”
 Father Zamora, 37, was also Spanish, born in the Philippines. He was the parish priest of
Marikina and was known to be unfriendly to and would not countenance any arrogance
or authoritative behavior from Spaniards coming from Spain. He once snubbed a
Spanish governor who came to visit Marikina.
 Father Gomez was an old man in his mid-’70, Chinese-Filipino, born in Cavite. He held
the most senior position of the three as Archbishop’s Vicar in Cavite. He was truly
nationalistic and accepted the death penalty calmly as though it were his penance for
being pro-Filipinos.
 The three priests were stripped of their albs, and with chained hands and feet were
brought to their cells after their sentence. They received numerous visits from folks
coming from Cavite, Bulacan, and elsewhere. Forty thousand Filipinos came to Luneta to
witness and quietly condemn the execution, and Gomburza became a rallying
catchword for the down-trodden Filipinos seeking justice and freedom from Spain.
 In the dedication page of his second book, El Filibusterismo, published in 1891, Dr. Jose
Rizal wrote, “I dedicate my work to you as victims of the evil which I undertake to
combat…”
 It is well to remember that the seeds of nationalism that was sown in Cavite blossomed
to the Philippine Revolution and later to the Declaration of Independence by Emilio
Aguinaldo which took place also in Cavite. As for me, the 1872 Cavite Mutiny bolstered
the stereotypical belief that Caviteños were the most courageous of my fellow Filipinos.
SECULARIZATION MOVEMENT
 Two kinds of priests served the Catholic Church in the Philippines. These were
the regulars and the seculars.
 Regular priests belonged to religious orders. Their main task was to spread Christianity.
Examples were the Augustinians, Discalced Franciscans, Dominicans. Jesuits,
Augustinians Recollects,
 Secular priests did not belong to any religious order. They were trained specifically to
run the parishes and were under the supervision of the bishops.
 Secular clergy, on the other hand, were priests who “live in the world”. They were under
the authority of bishops and not members of a religious order. The primary task was the
management of the religious communities and ideally, the continuation of the work
already laid down by the regular clergy.
 In the Philippines, the regular clergy remained administrators of the parishes well into
the nineteenth century.
 Conflict began when the bishops insisted on visiting the parishes that were being run by
regular priests. It was their duty, they argued, to check on the administration of these
parishes. But the regular priests refused these visits, saying that they were not under
the bishop’s jurisdiction. They threatened to abandon their parishes if the bishops
persisted.
 In 1774, Archbishop Basilio Santa Justa decided to uphold the diocese’s authority over
the parishes and accepted the resignations of the regular priests. He assigned secular
priests to take their place. Since there were not enough seculars to fill all the vacancies
the Archbishop hastened the ordination of Filipino seculars. A royal decree was also
issued on November 9, 1774, which provided for the secularization of all parishes or the
transfer of parochial administration from the regular friars to the secular priests.
 The regulars resented the move because they considered the Filipinos unfit for the
priesthood. Among other reasons they cited the Filipinos’ brown skin, lack of education,
and inadequate experience.
 The controversy became more intense when the Jesuits returned to the Philippines.
They had been exiled from the country because of certain policies of the order that the
Spanish authorities did not like.
 The issue soon took on a racial slant. The Spaniards were clearly favouring their own
regular priest over Filipino priests.
 Monsignor Pedro Pelaez, ecclesiastical governor of the Church, sided with the Filipinos.
Unfortunately, he died in an earthquake that destroyed the Manila Cathedral in 1863.
 After his death, other priests took his place in fighting for the secularization movement.
Among them were Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora.

EXECUTION OF GOMEZ, BURGOS, AND ZAMORA

 Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora were prominent figures in the
secularization movement. They were implicated as leaders of the Cavite Mutiny. To
instill fear among Filipinos, they were publicly executed in February 07, 1872 in the
Bagumbayan.
 Fathers Gomez and Zamora served as spiritual adviser of the soldiers and workers who
joined the mutiny.
 Their execution was witnessed by many Filipinos and have left them a great feeling of
indignation and injustice. They considered it as a way of Spanish authorities to silence
the secularization movement. This has also fueled the hatred of Filipinos for the
Spaniards which ignited nationalistic sentiments of the Filipinos.
 The execution of the GOMBURZA had also inspired the Propaganda movement and the
Philippine revolution. The Propaganda Movement (1880- 1892)
 Due to abuses of Spanish authorities and clergies and the curtailment of freedom of
expression, Filipinos, specifically the IIustrados campaigned for the assimilation of the
Philippines to Spain by becoming a province of Spain so that the Filipinos and Spaniards
will be equal and Filipinos will enjoy the liberties enjoyed by the Spaniards.
 The Ilustrados organized the Propaganda movement which exposed the condition of the
Philippines under the Spanish rule and campaigned for reforms that the country
needed. They also campaigned for representation to Spanish Cortes (legislature),
freedom of the press, economic liberalization, secularization and equality before the law
of Filipinos and Spaniards.
 The Propaganda movement expressed their campaigns in the La Solidaridad – the
official newspaper of the movement. The Propagandists did not only expose the social
conditions of the Philippines and ask for reforms but they also wrote about Philippine
history, culture and identity.
A French writer-journalist named Edmund Plauchut gave an account of the execution
 Late in the night of the 15th of February 1872, a Spanish court martial found three
secular priests, Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora, guilty of treason as
the instigators of a mutiny in the Cavite navy-yard a month before, and sentenced them
to death. The judgement of the court martial was read to the priests in Fort Santiago
early in the next morning and they were told it would be executed the following day…
 Upon hearing the sentence, Burgos broke into sobs, Zamora lost his mind and never
recovered it, and only Gomez listened impassively, an old man accustomed to the
thought of death.
 When dawn broke on the 17th of February there were almost forty thousand of Filipinos
(who came from as far as Bulacan, Pampanga, Cavite and Laguna) surrounding the four
platforms where the three priests and the man whose testimony had convicted them, a
former artilleryman called Saldua, would die.
 The three priests followed Saldua: Burgos ‘weeping like a child’, Zamora with vacant
eyes, and Gomez head held high, blessing the Filipinos who knelt at his feet, heads bared
and praying. He was next to die. When his confessor, a Recollect friar , exhorted him
loudly to accept his fate, he replied: “Father, I know that not a leaf falls to the ground
but by the will of God. Since He wills that I should die here, His holy will be done.”
 Zamora went up the scaffold without a word and delivered his body to the executioner;
his mind had already left it.
 Burgos was the last, a refinement of cruelty that compelled him to watch the death of
his companions. He seated himself on the iron rest and then sprang up crying: “But what
crime have I committed? Is it possible that I should die like this. My God, is there no
justice on earth?”
 A dozen friars surrounded him and pressed him down again upon the seat of the
garrote, pleading with him to die a Christian death. He obeyed but, feeling his arms tied
round the fatal post, protested once again: “But I am innocent!”
 “So was Jesus Christ,’ said one of the friars.” At this Burgos resigned himself. The
executioner knelt at his feet and asked his forgiveness. “I forgive you, my son. Do your
duty.” And it was done.
Although the public execution of the three priests was a meant to instill fear in the Filipinos, it
had the opposite effect. In his work, La Revolucion Filipina, Apolinario Mabini stated:
 The friars wanted to make an example of Burgos and his companions so that the
Filipinos should be afraid to go against them from then on. But that patent injustice ,
that official crime, aroused not fear but hatred of the friars and the regime that
supported them, and a profound sympathy and sorrow for the victims. The sorrow
worked a miracle: it made the Filipinos realize their conditions for the first time.
 Conscious of pain, and thus conscious of life, they asked themselves what kind of a life
they lived. The awakening was painful, and working to stay alive more painful still, but
one must live. How? They did not know, and the desire to know, the anxiety to learn,
overwhelmed and took possession of the youth of the Philippines.The curtain of
 ignorance woven diligently for centuries was rent at last: fiat lux, let there be light,
would not be long in coming, the dawn of a new day was nearing.
 

Summary
    The Cavite Mutiny and the subsequent execution of the three priests- Jose Burgos, Mariano
Gomez, and Jacinto Zamora-marked 1872 as a significant year in Philippine history. Although
the clamor for a more liberal administration during this time was temporarily silenced ,
nationalism was gradually awakened , culminating in more decisive events towards the end of
the nineteenth century.