Name: Cortez, Faith Ann BSMT 1

Primary source: Excerpts from Plauchut's account of the Cavite Mutiny.

Edmund Plauchut, a Frenchman residing in Manila at the time of the revolt,

gives a fair-minded retelling of the mutiny and its causes in an article published in
the Revue des Deux Mondes in 1877. He traced the cause to an authoritative
order from the governor, Izquierdo, obligating personal taxes from the Filipino
laborers in the engineering and artillery corps in the Cavite arsenal and requiring
them to perform forced labor, which means taking away the privileges that they
enjoyed. The day of the mutiny, was payday and the laborers found the amount
of taxes as well as the following fee in lieu of the forced labor deducted from their
pay envelopes. This was not the first instance of dissatisfaction from the native
soldiers, one of the first acts of Governor-General Izquierdo was the fusion of two
artillery battalions in Manila. One of the two were composed of Spaniards and
were made the first company in the military. The other one was of Mestizos and
Filipinos who were made to be the second company. Before the merger, the two
battalions were operating separately to avoid butting heads from one another
because of difference in race.
The Spaniards were getting better treatment while the Filipinos and
Mestizos were blissfully unaware. The vacant posts of the military was filled with
Spaniards. Once the merger happened they realized the discrimination that was
happening and from the feeling of discontent spread. They decided enough was
enough and on that night they revolted, taking over Fort of San Felipe was forty
infantry soldiers and twenty men from the artillery and after taking command of
the fort, fired cannonades to announce to the world their moment of conquest. It
was a short-lived victory. Apparently, they mutineers engaged with the 7th
infantry company assigned to patrol the Cavite plaza to join them but their
comrades did not make any moves and instead started attacking the mutineers,
clearly terror-stricken they decided to fortify and hold out until morning to wait
for reinforcement from Manila, unfortunately, the Cavite mutineers had mistaken
for a pre-arranged signal for the uprising coming from the general direction of the
city, turned out to be the burst of rockets in celebration of the feast of St. Loreto,
patron of Sampaloc. An Augustinian Friar by the name of Casimiro Herrera who
later wrote a thesis on the mutiny said that signal was an "act of Divine
Providence", the feast of St. Loreto was traditionally celebrated in December,
which had been postponed to January 20 that year. General Izquierdo caught
wind of the mutiny and sent General Felipe Ginoves Expinar. Dr. Trinidad
Hermenigildo Pardo de Tavera, argued that the Spanish report of the battle within
the fort conflicted with other accounts such as Edmund Plauchut’s report. It was
reported also that the rebels themselves put to death the Spanish officers inside
the fort, as well as the wife of one of them and her maid. That those who staged
the revolt in the San Felipe fort were counting on help from comrades in other
military posts in Cavite and Manila is within the bounds of possibility but
unfortunately the help never came.

General La Torre created a junta composed of high officials including some

friars and six Spanish officials. At the same time there was created by the
government in Madrid a committee to investigate the same problems submitted
to the Manila committee. When the two finished work, it was found that they
came to the same conclusions. Here is the summary of the reforms they
considered necessary to introduced:
1. Changes in tariff rates at customs, and the methods of collection.
2. Removal of surcharges on foreign importations.
3. Reduction of export fees.
4. Permission for foreigners to reside in the Philippines, buy real state, enjoy
freedom of
worship, and operate commercial transports flying the Spanish flag.
5. Establishment of an advisory council to inform the Minister of Overseas Affairs
in
Madrid on the necessary reforms to be implemented.
6. Changes in primary and secondary education.
7. Establishment of an Institute of Civil Administration in the Philippines,
rendering
unnecessary the sending home of short-term civil officials every time there is a
change of
ministry.
8. Study of direct-tax system.
9. Abolition of the tobacco monopoly.

ANALYSIS:
 The arrival in Manila of General Izquierdo put a sudden end to all dreams of
reforms the prosecutions instituted by the now Governor General were
probably expected as a result of the bitter disputes between the Filipino
clerics and the friars. Such a policy must really end in a strong desire on the
part of the other to repress cruelly.
 In regard to schools, it was previously decreed that there should be in
Manila a Society of Arts and Trades to be opened in March of 1871 to
repress the growth of liberal teachings, General Izquierdo suspended the
opening of the school the day previous to the scheduled inauguration.
 The Filipinos had a duty to render service on public roads construction and
pay taxes every year. But those who were employed at the maestranza of
the artillery, in the engineering shops and arsenal of Cavite, were exempted
from this obligation from time immemorial without preliminaries of any
kind, a decree by the Governor withdrew from such old employees their
retirement privileges and declassified them into the ranks of those who
worked on public roads.
 The friars used the incident as a part of a larger conspiracy to cement their
dominance, which had started to show cracks because of the discontent of
the Filipinos. They showcased the mutiny as part of a greater conspiracy in
the Philippines by Filipinos to overthrow the Spanish Government.
Unintentionally, and more so, prophetically, the Cavite Mutiny of 1872
resulted in the martyrdom of GOMBUZA, paved the way to the revolution
culminating in 1898.
  These events are significant highlights in the Philippine history and have
caused ripples right through time, directly influencing the decisive events of
the Philippines Revolution toward the end of the century. These are
considered a major factor in the awakening of nationalism among the
Filipinos of that time and will continue to serve as one up until this preset
times.

REFERENCE:
Source: Edmund Plauchut, “The Cavite Mutiny of 1872 and the Martyrdom
of Gom-Bur-Za,” in the Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide, Documentary Sources of
Philippine History, Volume 7 (Manila: National Book Store, 1990), 251-268.