Republic of the Philippines

City of Olongapo
GORDON COLLEGE
Olongapo City Sports Complex, East Tapinac, Olongapo City
Tel. No. (047) 224-2089 loc. 314
Title: Cavite Mutiny
Module No. 5

I. Introduction

In this module, it presents the faces of the mutiny in the Spanish perspective and
Filipino Perspective. Additionally, the official report of Governor General Rafael
Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 was included.
II. Learning Objectives
After studying this module, you should be able to:
1. Understand the happenings in the mutiny;
2. Analyze the different version of the mutiny and how it affects the Filipino now;
3. Compare each version of the mutiny.
III. Topics and Key Concepts
THE FACES OF THE 1872 CAVITE MUTINY
The 12th of June of every year since 1898 is a very important event for all the
Filipinos. In this particular day, the entire Filipino nation as well as Filipino communities
all over the world gathers to celebrate the Philippines’ Independence Day. 1898 came to
be a very significant year for all of us— it is as equally important as 1896—the year when
the Philippine Revolution broke out owing to the Filipinos’ desire to be free from the
abuses of the Spanish colonial regime. But we should be reminded that another year is as
historic as the two—1872.
Two major events happened in 1872, first was the 1872 Cavite Mutiny and the other was
the martyrdom of the three martyr priests in the persons of Fathers Mariano Gomes, Jose
Burgos and Jacinto Zamora (GOMBURZA). However, not all of us knew that there were
different accounts in reference to the said event. All Filipinos must know the different sides
of the story—since this event led to another tragic yet meaningful part of our history—the
execution of GOMBURZA which in effect a major factor in the awakening of nationalism
among the Filipinos.

SPANIARDS VERSION OF THE CAVITE MUTINY

Jose Montero y Vidal. A Spanish historian the one who wrote the Spaniards version of
Cavite mutiny.
Carlos María de la Torre y Navacerrada. Was a Spanish soldier and politician. He served
as Governor-General of the Philippines from 1869 to 1871and is considered to be the
most beloved of the Spanish Governors-General ever assigned in the Philippines. And
replaced by Rafael Izquierdo y Gutiérrez early months before 1872.
Rafael Izquierdo y Gutiérrez. Was a Spanish Military Officer, politician, and statesman. He
served as Governor-General of the Philippines from April 4, 1871 to January 8, 1873. He
was famous for his use of "Iron Fist" type of government, contradicting the liberal

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 Republic of the Philippines
City of Olongapo
GORDON COLLEGE
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Tel. No. (047) 224-2089 loc. 314
government of his predecessor, Carlos María de la Torre y Navacerrada. He was the
Governor-General during the 1872 Cavite mutiny which led to execution of 41 of the
mutineers, including the Gomburza martyrs. Izquierdo also acted as Governor-General of
Puerto Rico from March 1862 to April 1862.

Mariano Gomez, Jose Apolonio Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora

 Also known as the GOMBURZA.
 Izquierdo believed that the GOMBURZA is the one who stated and lead the mutiny that
caused the life of Spanish military personnels in the fort.
 Sentenced to death by strangulation (garote).

January 20, 1872

The district of Sampaloc celebrated the feast of the Virgin of Loreto, unfortunately
participants to the feast celebrated the occasion with the usual fireworks displays. Allegedly,
those in Cavite mistook the fireworks as the sign for the attack, and just like what was agreed
upon, the 200-men contingent headed by Sergeant Lamadrid launched an attack targeting
Spanish officers at sight and seized the arsenal.

January 21,1872
When the news reached the iron-fisted Gov. Izquierdo he ordered D. Felipe Ginoves
Segundocabo to go in cavite using merchant vessels Isabela I and Isabela II to wait whole day
of the 21st for the rebels to surrender without ordering an assault to avoid schedding of blood.

January 22,1872
After the whole day of waiting Ginoves ordered an assault and sageant la madrid was
killed during the assault and all of the mutineers and the gomburza has been arrested by the
spanished troops and that day has been an official proclamation announced the suppression of
the revolt.
Patriots like Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Antonio Ma. Regidor, Jose and Pio Basa and
other abogadillos were suspended by the Audencia (High Court) from the practice of law,
arrested and were sentenced with life imprisonment at the Marianas Island. Furthermore,
Gov. Izquierdo dissolved the native regiments of artillery and ordered the creation of artillery
force to be composed exclusively of the Peninsulares.
On 17 February 1872 in an attempt of the Spanish government and Frailocracia to
instill fear among the Filipinos so that they may never commit such daring act again, the
GOMBURZA were executed by strangulation or garrote in bagumbayan also known as
luneta.

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City of Olongapo
GORDON COLLEGE
Olongapo City Sports Complex, East Tapinac, Olongapo City
Tel. No. (047) 224-2089 loc. 314

FILIPINO VERSION OF THE CAVITE MUTINY OF 1872

Dr. Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera. Filipino scholar and researcher who wrote the filipino
version of cavite mutiny of 1872.

Rafael Izquierdo. He served as Governor-General of the Philippines from April 4, 1871 to

January 8, 1873.
Gen. Izquierdo introduced rigid and strict policies that made the Filipinos move and turn
away from Spanish government out of disgust
 His first official act, was to prohibit the founding school of arts and trades which was
being organized by the efforts and funds raised by natives of standing in the government.
 The peace of the colony was broken because of an incident, the incident was a mere
mutiny by the native Filipino soldiers and laborers of the Cavite arsenal who turned out
to be dissatisfied with the abolition of their privileges.

Polo Y Servicio. Is the system of forced labor which evolved within the framework of
encomienda system
Cavite Mutiny. January 20, 1872. 200 soldiers, laborers and residents of Cavite
Sergeant Lamadrid. A Filipino who led the cavite mutiny
 11 Spanish officers were assassinated by the group of Filipinos.
 The news about the mutiny reached authorities in Manila and Gen. Izquierdo
immediately ordered the reinforcement of Spanish troops in Cavite.
 Tavera believed that the Spanish friars and Izquierdo used the Cavite Mutiny as a
powerful lever by magnifying it as a full-blown conspiracy involving not only the native
army but also included residents of Cavite and Manila, and more importantly the native
clergy to overthrow the Spanish government in the Philippines.
 the Central Government in Madrid announced its intention to deprive the friars of all the
powers of intervention in matters of civil government and the direction and management
of educational institutions.
 Tavera sadly confirmed that the Madrid government came to believe that the scheme was
true without any attempt to investigate the real facts or extent of the alleged “revolution”
reported by Izquierdo and the friars.
 Convicted educated men who participated in the mutiny were sentenced life
imprisonment while members of the native clergy headed by the GOMBURZA were
tried and executed by garrote.
 Antonio M. Regidor. A lawyer and councilman of Manila
 Joaquin Pardo de Tavera. Lawyer and member of the administrative council
 P. Mendoza, curate of Sta. Cruz
 Guevarra, curate of Quiapo

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The Priest
 Mariano Sevilla
 Feliciano Gomez
 Ballestros
 Jose Basa
The Lawyers
 Carillo, Basa, Enriquez, Crisanto Reyes, Maximo Paterno etc.

GOMBURZA
 Catholic Priest
 Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora
 Executed on February 17, 1872 at Bagumbayan (Luneta Park)

Cavite Mutiny was unsuccessful, but it leads to the awakening of Nationalism in the
Philippines and the outbreak of Philippine Revolution of 1896.

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 Republic of the Philippines
City of Olongapo
GORDON COLLEGE
Olongapo City Sports Complex, East Tapinac, Olongapo City
Tel. No. (047) 224-2089 loc. 314
Governor General Rafael Izquierdo’s Report on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872.
Gov. General Rafael Izquierdo made a report to the Spanish Ministry of War on
January 23, 1872. In his report he blamed the native clergy, scholars, and some residents
of Manila and the Neighboring provinces as the instigators of Cavite Mutiny. HE
expressively describes Cavite Mutiny as an “Insurrection”,”Uprisng” and a “Revolution”.
Below is the text of Gov. General Izquierdo’s Report.
“From the summary of information received, that is, from the declaration made
before fiscal, it seems definite that the insurrection was motivated and prepared by the
native clergy, 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 province 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 encourage the rebellion by protesting what
they called the injustice of having obliged the workers in Cavite arsenal to pay tribute
starting January 1, 1872 and to render personal service form which they were formally
exempted.
To seduce the native troops, they resorted to supersititions with which the indios are so
prone to believe; persuading them that the chief of state 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 batalions 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.
Jacinto 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.
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City of Olongapo
GORDON COLLEGE
Olongapo City Sports Complex, East Tapinac, Olongapo City
Tel. No. (047) 224-2089 loc. 314
The revels in Cavite made the signals agreed upon by means of lanterns, but the native
civilians in Bacoor though they tried it, failed because of the vigilance of Spanish navy
that had placed there a gunboat and armed vessels.
Loyalist who went to arrest the parish priest of Bacoor found and 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 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 the 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 junta or center that sought and
found followers; and that as a pretext they had established a society or 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
replied.
It has also been said that this center or Junta received inspiration from madrid, where
newspaper of advanced idea’s flourish; to sustain them subscriptions are locally solicited;
in effect, newspaper 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 alar; and instead continued a vigilant watch
whether possible within the limited means at my command. I had everything ready,
taking account the limited peninsular force, which composes the army.

IV. Teaching and Learning Materials and Resources

Paper and Pen, Internet/Data, Notebook/Book

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 Republic of the Philippines
City of Olongapo
GORDON COLLEGE
Olongapo City Sports Complex, East Tapinac, Olongapo City
Tel. No. (047) 224-2089 loc. 314
V. Learning Task
a. Compare and Contrast the three different version of the Cavite Mutiny using Venn diagram.

Filipino Version

Izquierdo Spanish
Version Version

VI. Reference
a. Ligan, et al., (2018). Readings in the Philippine History, Mutya Publishing, Inc.
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 Republic of the Philippines
City of Olongapo
GORDON COLLEGE
Olongapo City Sports Complex, East Tapinac, Olongapo City
Tel. No. (047) 224-2089 loc. 314
b. The official Report of Governor Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872. Readings in
Philippine History pp. 74.
Reflection part

What are your reflections on this module?

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