Case Study 2:
What Happened
in the
Cavite Mutiny?
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 (GOMBURZA)
What happened on
January 20, 1872?
Cavite Mutiny
- an uprising of Filipino military
personnel of Fort San Felipe, the
Spanish arsenal in Cavite
- around 200 locally recruited
colonial troops and laborers rose
up in the belief that it would
elevate to a national uprising
Fernando La Madrid – the leader; a
mestizo sergeant
Jaerel Brent Senior – second in
command; moreno
- They seized Fort San Felipe and killed
eleven Spanish officers.
- The mutineers thought that Filipino native
soldiers in Manila would join them in a
concerted uprising, the signal being the
firing of rockets from the city walls on that
night.
- Unfortunately, what they thought to be the
signal was actually a burst of fireworks in
celebration of the feast of Our Lady of
Loreto
- The plan was to set fires in Tondo in order
to distract the authorities
- All Spaniards were to be killed, except
women
- News of the mutiny reached Manila and
through the lover of a Spanish sergeant
informed his superiors, and the Spanish
authorities feared for a massive Filipino
uprising.
- The next day, a regiment led by Gen.
Felipe Ginoves besieged the fort until the
mutineers surrendered.
- Ginoves then ordered his troops to fire at
those who surrendered, including La Madrid
- The rebels were formed in a line, when
Colonel Sabas asked who would not cry out
“Viva España!”, and shot the one man who
stepped forward. The rest were imprisoned.
- As a result, the three native fathers Burgos,
Gomez, and Zamora were sentenced to
death by garrote on February 17, 1872.
- The charge against the three was their
alleged complicity in the uprising of the
workers at the Cavite arsenal
- It was believed by Izquierdo that the
Filipinos will create its own government and
allegedly, the three priests were nominated
as the leader of the planned government in
order to break free of the Spanish
government.
The mutiny was unsuccessful, and
government soldiers executed many
of the participants and began to
crack down on a growing Philippines
nationalist movement.
Many scholars believed that the
Cavite Mutiny was the beginning of
Filipino nationalism that would
eventually lead to the Philippine
Revolution of 1896.
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.
Spanish Accounts
Jose Montero y Vidal
Gov. Gen. Rafael Izquierdo
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,
Volume 7 (Manila: National Book Store,
1990), 269-273.
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
An excerpt from Montero’s account of the
Cavite Mutiny
“…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…”
Primary Source: Excerpts from the Official Report
of GovGen Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872
Source: Rafael Izquierdo, “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.
Governor General Rafael Izquierdo
- implicated the native clergy, who were then,
active in the movement toward secularization
of parishes
- in a biased report, he highlighted the
attempt to overthrow the Spanish
Government in the Phil. to install a new
“hari” in the persons of fathers Burgos and
Zamora.
According to Izquierdo
“The 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 Spaniards’ Accounts,
- The mutiny was premeditated and a part
of a big conspiracy among educated
leaders, mestizos, lawyers, and residents of
Manila and Cavite.
- They allegedly plan to liquidate high
ranking Spanish officers then kill friars.
Differing Accounts of the
events of 1872
Trinidad Hermenegildo Pardo
de Tavera
Edmund Plauchut
Primary Source: Excerpts from Pardo de Tavera’s
Account of the Cavite Mutiny
Source: Trinidad Pardo de Tavera,
“Filipino Version of the Cavite Mutiny,” in
Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide,
Documentary Sources of Philippine
History, Volume 7 (Manila: National Book
Store, 1990), 274-280.
Dr. Trinidad Hermenegildo Pardo de
Tavera
-A filipino scholar and researcher
-Wrote a Filipino version of the
bloody incident in Cavite
According to Pardo de Tavera
“The incident was merely a mutiny by
Filipino soldiers and laborers of the Cavite
arsenal to the dissatisfaction arising from the
draconian policies of Izquierdo.”
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, Volume 7 (Manila:
National Book Store, 1990), 251-268.
Edmund Plauchut
-A French writer
-Complemented Tavera’s account
and analyzed the motivation of the
1872 Cavite Mutiny
An excerpt from Plauchut’s account of the
Cavite Mutiny
“…the arrival in Manila of General
Izquierdo put a sudden end to all dreams of
reforms.”
In the Differing Accounts,
- Spanish friars used Cavite Mutiny as a
part of a larger conspiracy to cement their
dominance
- The friars also showcased the mutiny as
part of a greater conspiracy in the
Philippines by Filipinos to overthrow the
Spanish Government
In the Differing Accounts,
- Unintentionally, it resulted in the
martyrdom of GOMBURZA and paved
way to the revolution culminating in 1898.
Rizal dedicated his second
novel, EL FILIBUSTERISMO, to
the memory of the GOM-BUR-
ZA.
“I dedicate my work to you as
victims of the evil which I
undertake to combat.”
