CHAPTER 4
CAVITE MUTINY: SPANISH VERSION VS FILIPINO VERSION
INTRODUCTION
 WHAT: The Cavite mutiny of 1872 was an
uprising of military personnel
 WHERE: Fort San Felipe, the Spanish arsenal in
Cavite Philippines
 WHEN: January 20, 1872
 WHO: Around 200 soldiers and laborers
(Filipino Side) against the Spanish soldiers
 HOW: The mutiny ended as unsuccessful, and
government soldiers executed many of the
participants and began to crackdown
burgeoning of nationalist movement, but at the
same time many of the scholars believe that
Cavite Mutiny was the beginning of Filipino
Nationalism that eventually lead to Filipino
Revolution of 1896
o Rafael Izquierdo y Gutierrez
 Governor General
 Led to executions includes the
priest Mariano Gomez, Jose
Burgos amd Jacinto Zamora
 The execution was meant to
threaten other Filipino
movements but otherwise
wherein on of the Filipinos who
witnessed was Jose Rizal and
later dedicated to three martyrs
by El Fili.
 Reflected in the 12 influential
events in Philippine history
WHAT LEAD TO CAVITE
 2 FACES OF STORY
1. Filipino Side
a. Accounts of Tavera and Plauchut
2. Spanish Side
a. Accounts of Montero and
Izquierdo
SPANISH SIDE
Jose Montero y Vidal
 primary cause: overthrow the Spanish
government due to abolishment of rights of
Filipinos
 GOMBURZA was claimed to start the revolution
 The conspiracy has been going on since the days
of La Torre.
 The principal leaders met either at the house of
Joaquin Pardo Tavera or Fr. Jacinto Zamora
Governor-general Rafael Izquierdo
 Spanish military officer, politician
 Served s Governor-general of the Philippines
around April 4 1871- January 8, 1873
 Known to use iron fist type of government
 claiming again the priests and lawyers as brain
of revolution
 reason: abolish of privilege to the Filipinos
 carry out criminal project, protected against the
injustice of the government in not paying the
provinces for their tobacco crop.
SPANISH PERSPECTIVE JOINT
 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 REVOLUTION as they called
it.
 The Spaniards claim that it was all planned and
thought of big conspiracy among educated
leaders: abogadillos, lawyers and native clergy
 Celebration of the feast of Virgin of Loreto with
the usual firework display, unfortunately
mistook those in Cavite as the sign of 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
FILIPINO VERSION
Joaquin Pardo de Tavera
 Filipino scholar , scientist and historical
researcher
 Served as member of Taft’s Philippine
Commission and founded the Federal Party
 was simply a mutiny
 Izquierdo prohibits the school of arts and trades
 Filipinos had great hopes of an improvement in
the affairs of their country while the friars on
the other hand feared that their power in the
colony would soon be complete a thing of the
past
 the incident was merely a mutiny by Filipino
Soldiers and the laborers of the Cavite arsenal to
the dissatisfaction arising from the draconian
policies of Izquierdo
 the central government in Madrid was planning
to deprive the friars of all the powers of
intervention in matters of civil government and
direction and management of educational
institutions.
 The friars needed something to justify their
continuing dominance in the country and
the mutiny provided such opportunity.
EDMOND PLAUCHUT

 French journalist
 Join French trade operations in Manila
PERSPECTIVE

 the prosecutions by the new Governor

General, were probably expected as a result
of the bitter disputes between the Filipino
clerics and the friars.
 society of arts and trades is not funded
General Izquierdo suspended the opening of
the school, a day before it’s inauguration.
 The Filipinos had a duty do render services
on the public roads and pay taxes every year
 Exemption: employed in Maestranzas of the
artillery in the engineering shops and
arsenal in Cavite were exempted from the
obligation of from time immemorial

FILIPINO PERSPECTIVE JOINT

 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 Cavite mutiny was an isolated case, it
was not done for main cause of claiming
freedom of the nation but instead of
claiming back the privilege of the workers
that was deprived from them.
 It was not planned for long as when the time
of La Torre the privilege of the arsenal
workers was observed and so it was still not
implicated on the minds of Filipino to raise
their hands.
 There were many martyrs to the cause who
were sentenced to death but this did not
impose fear on Filipino but instead fueled
up the fire in their heart that later on
resulted to the Philippine Revolution of
1896