Opposition on the move to take back the parishes from the native priests began to surface.

Among the
Filipino priests who questioned the plan for reorganizing the parishes, Fr. Jose Burgos was the most
outspoken.

Burgos clearly manifested this point by saying, "With regard to my having intervened in such a way as to
make the fathers from Pamplona feel that they were being deterred from occupying the posts assigned
to them by Your Lordship...I merely made the observation that since...(they) are not familiar with the
languages of the parishes that they are supposed to officiate...it was in my opinion not merely advisable
but proper that they should begin as coadjutors (assistant) in said parishes, and until they shall have
acquired some knowledge of these languages (De la Costa, 1992)."

If in Spain the clergy were losing their grounds, in the Philippines the Church hierarchy still managed to
hold on to their power and influence.

To make the story short, they were able to deceptively implicate Burgos and his accomplices Gomez and
Zamora in the 1872 Cavite Mutiny. The fabricated accusation led to the death of the three Filipino martyr
priests. However, this unfortunate event left a stinging mark on Spain for the unjust execution of Gomez,
Burgos and Zamora would have a significant influence in the making of a national hero, Jose Rizal.

In memory of their martyrdom, Rizal dedicated second novel, El Filibusterismo to the three martyr
priests.