CAVITE MUTINY

REFLECTIVE SUMMARY

What is Mutiny? A mutiny is a rebellion against authority, like when sailors overthrow the
captain of a ship. Mutiny comes from an old verb, mutine, which means “revolt”, and a
mutiny is still like a revolt.

The Cavite mutiny and the martyrdom of the three martyr priests in the persons of Fathers
Mariano Gomes, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora (GOMBURZA) happened in 1872.

Did you know that there were different sides of the story of this event that 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.

In Spanish perspective, a prolific Spanish historian Jose Montero Vidal documented the
event and highlighted it as an attempt of Indios to overthrow Spanish government in the
Philippines. While Gov. Gen. Rafael Izquierdo’s official report magnified the event and made
use of it to implicate the native clergy, which was then active in the call for secularization.
Both Montero and Izquierdo scored out that the abolition of privileges enjoyed by the
workers of Cavite arsenal such as non-payment of tributes and exemption from force labor
were the main reasons of the “revolution” as how they called it. Other causes were
enumerated by them including the Spanish Revolution which overthrew the secular throne,
dirty propagandas proliferated by unrestrained press, democratic, liberal and republican
books and pamphlets reaching the Philippines, and most importantly, the presence of the
native clergy who out of animosity against the Spanish friars, “ conspired and supported” the
rebels and enemies of Spain.

Izquierdo blamed the unruly Spanish Press for “stockpiling” malicious propagandas
grasped by the Filipinos. He reported to the King of Spain that the “rebels” wanted to
overthrow the Spanish government to install a new “hari” in the likes of Fathers Burgos and
Zamora. He lambasted the Indios as gullible and possessed an innate propensity for stealing.

They thought that this event was planned and it was a big conspiracy among educated
leaders, mestizos, native lawyers,residents of Manila and Cavite and the native clergy. They
insinuated that the conspirators of Manila and Cavite planned to liquidate high-ranking
Spanish officers to be followed by the massacre of the friars.

According to them on the 20th of January of 1872, the district of Sampaloc 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 b Sergeant Lamadrid launched an attack targeting Spanish officers at sight and
seized the arsenal.

Gov. Izquierdo ordered the reinforcement of the Spanish forces in Cavite to quell the revolt
when he found out about the news. Major instigators including Sergeant Lamadrid were
killed in the skirmish, while the GOMBURZA were tried by a court-martial and were
sentenced to die by strangulation. Patriots like Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Antonio Ma.
Regidor, Jose and Pio Basa and other abogadillos were suspended by the higher court from
the practice of law,,arrested and were sentenced with life I mprisonment at the Marianas
Island.
 The GOMBURZA were executed on the 17 th of February 1872. This event was tragic but
served as one of the moving forces that shaped Filipino nationalism.

As for the Filipino version of the bloody incident in Cavite, Dr. Trinidad Hermenigildo Pardo
de Tavera, a Filipino scholar and researcher wrote that 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.

About 200 men composed of soldiers, laborers of the arsenal, and residents of Cavite
headed by Sergeant Lamadrid rose in arms and assassinated the commanding officer and
Spanish officers in sight on the 20th of January 1872. When the news about the mutiny
reached authorities in Manila and Gen. Izquierdo immediately ordered the reinforcement of
Spanish troops in Cavite. After two days, the mutiny was officially declared subdued.

It is noteworthy that during that time, 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. This turnout of
events was believed by Tavera, prompted the friars to do something drastic in their desire to
maintain power in the Philippines.

The friars, fearing that their influence in the Philippines would be a thing of the past, took
advantage of the incident and presented it to the Spanish Government as a vast conspiracy
organized throughout the archipelago with the object of destroying Spanish sovereignty.
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 GOMBURZA were tried and
executed by garrote.

This lead to the awakening of nationalism and eventually to the outbreak of Philippine
Revolution of 1896. The French writer Edmund Plauchut’s account complimented Tavera’s
account by confirming that the event happened due to discontentment of the arsenal
workers and soldiers in Cavite fort. The Frenchman, however, dwelt more on the execution
of the three martyr priests which he actually witnessed.

SUBMITTED BY: FREETSIE KATE ZOLETA

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