The Cavite Mutiny of 1872

Philippine’s early history has been a series of colonization, revolution, and freedom with Spain

as the first colonizers who occupied the Philippines for over 300 years. Every 12th of June since

1898, we, Filipinos, celebrate our Independence Day. In 1896, because of our desire to break

free from the grasp of the abusive Spanish colonizers, a revolution broke out. It is thru this

revolution that June 12 became a special day. However, another year merits our attention – the

historic year of 1872 which is the year of the Cavite Mutiny.

The Cavity Mutiny of 1872 is one of the catalyst of the momentous 1898 revolution. It is when

three Filipino priests, Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora

(GOMBURZA)were tried by court-martial and finally executed by garrote. This tragic event is

one of the factors that lead to the awakening of the Filipino nationalism.

One thing is quite clear when the Cavite Mutiny is the object of discourse: we possess no

definitive account of the event nor any satisfactory biography of any of the three priests to give

a faithful depiction of what really happened (Schumacher 1972).