Cavite Mutiny

Nearing one and a half century, on January 20, 1972, about 200 Filipino
military of Fort San Felipe, a Spanish arsenal in Cavite as well as laborers rose up in
the belief it would cause to a national uprising were employed and staged a revolt
against the Spanish government which in a way led to the Philippine Revolution in
1896. The Cavite Mutiny subsequently led to the execution of the prominent
Filipinos secular priest Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora otherwise
known as GOMBURZA that were tagged as the masterminds of the insurgence. The
unsuccessful mutiny led to government soldiers executing the participants in the
uprising and began to crack down on the expanding nationalist movement.

The Cavite Mutiny in 1872 has two versions coming from the Spanish and
Filipino. The Spanish version was recited by Jose Montero y Vidal where in his
account said that the fateful event on January 20, 1872 happens due to the
collaborative effort of the disgruntled native soldiers and laborers in Cavite arsenal
who willfully rebel the Spanish government thus, in such acts was deemed guilty in
rebellion and sedition. On the other hand, the Filipino version was narrated by
Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera where he told that for him, the so called Cavity Mutiny
was a mere incident due to the harsh policy and iron-fist rule of the new governor-
general Rafael Izquierdo, who impulsively terminated their privilege that exempting
the laborers from paying tax.

According to the Filipino version, the primary motive of the mutiny is

believed to be from the order of Governor-General Rafael de Izquierdo to the
reduced the salaries of the Engineering and Artillery Corps by subjecting them to
personal taxes, from which they were exempted. This taxes aside from requiring
them to pay a monetary sum has forced them to perform a labor forced called “polo
y servicio.” Meanwhile in the Spanish version, the Spanish government believes
that the cause of the mutiny is because of the liberal ideas from Europe
disseminated by the illustrados studying in Spain and that the Filipino were
revolting to overthrow the Spanish rule to gain independence from monarchial
control of the Spaniards.

The uprising was led by Fernando La Madrid, a mestizo sergeant in where

they seized Fort San Felipe and killed the commanding officers and Spanish officers
in sight. It was said that the mutineers believed that the soldiers in Manila would
help them in the conjoint uprising and thought that the fireworks they heard and
saw was the cue for the help that is coming but unfortunately it was really from a
celebration of the feast of the Lady of Loreto, the patron in Sampaloc. The news of
the mutiny reaches the Spanish government in Manila, fearing a general uprising,
they sent General Felipe Ginoves to recover the Fort. The general besieged the Fort
and the mutiny was repressed and many mutineers were killed including Sgt. La
Madrid. Later, the other mutineers that surrendered were killed or forced to hard
labor.
 In the Spanish version, the aftermath of the mutiny left all Filipino soldiers
disarmed and were later sent into exile. Governor-General Rafael Izquierdo
approved the death sentence on mutineers on January 27, and eleven more were
sentence but were commuted to life imprisonment on February 6. Also, people who
was suspected of supporting the revolt was apprehended and executed. The mutiny
was used by the Spanish government to implicate and sentence to death the three
priest Gomburza as well other notable Filipinos known for their liberal leanings.
There was a short trial happened in where mutineers testified that the mastermind
of coup was Father Jose Burgos. Zamora and Gomez were close to Burgos that’s
why they were included in the execution. On February, the Spanish court-martial
wend ahead and maliciously found Gomburza guilty of treason for instigating the
mutiny in Cavity. Two days later, the three priest was executed by garrote in
Bagumbayan which is now known as Luneta.

Moreover, on the Filipino version, the said casualties were the GomBurZa and
Sergeant La Madrid that were sentence by execution while many prominent
Filipinos such as professionals, businessmen, clergy and priests were arrested on
sleazy and trumped-up charges and charges to prison, death or exile. These
includes Antonio M. Regidor, Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Jose Basa and many other
conspicuous Filipinos that were sentenced to life imprisonment in Marianas Islands.

Considering the two account of the Cavite Mutiny in 1872, there were facts
the remained to be unchanging. First, there was a dissatisfaction among the
laborers and military soldiers of the arsenal when their privileges were drawn aback
by the new governor-general. Second, the new governor-general Rafael Iquierdo
imposed his iron-fist rule and strict policies that made Filipino turn away from
Spanish government. Third, the central government did not conduct an
investigation on what truly transpired the mutiny and only relied on the reports of
Izquierdo. Lastly, the execution of GomBurZa was a blunder on the part of the
Spanish government for their actions triggered ill-feelings of the Filipinos toward
the Spanish and the events in the Cavite paved way and blossomed to the
Philippine revolution and gaining the independence that was later declared by
Emilio Aguinaldo which also takes place in Cavite.