TASK PERFORMANCE

GROUP 02 BSIT 302

Cavite Mutiny
 Introduction
 Cavite Mutiny, a 20 January 1872 rebellion by 200 Filipino soldiers and employees at
the Cavite arsenal, was used as justification by the Spanish to suppress the fledgling
nationalist movement in the Philippines. Ironically, the aggressive response of the
Spanish government eventually helped to advance the nationalist cause. Although the
rebellion was promptly put down, the Spanish administration, led by the conservative
governor Rafael de Izquierdo,exaggerated the episode and used it as justification to crack
down on Filipinos who had been advocating for political change. A number of
intellectuals from the Philippines were detained and charged with working with the
mutineers. Three priests—José Burgos, Jacinto Zamora, and Mariano Gómez—were
publicly executed after a brief trial. Following that,the three were martyred for the cause
of Philippine independence.

 Sides and/or Evidences of the

Controversy
 Spanish - The spanish’s perspective of the Cavite mutiny were exaggerated
as the official report of Gov. Gen. RafaelIzquierdo included false accusations and
connected any inconvinience that befell them. At first, both Montero and Izquierdo
claimed that the removal of privileges enjoyed by Cavite Arsenal workers, such as non-
payment of tributes and exemption from forced labor, were the main causes of the
"revolution," as they put it. However, they also listed other causes, such as the Spanish
Revolution, which toppled the secular throne, filthy propaganda spread by an
unrestrained press, democratic, liberal, and republican books and pamphlets, as well as
other factors. Most notably, they asserted that a significant factor in the revolution was
the presence of the native clergy, who, out of anger for the Spanish friars, "conspired and
supported" the rebels and enemies of Spain.

 Filipino - In the perspective of a Filipino historian, the Cavite Mutiny wasa

potent tool utilized by the Spanish friars and Gov. Gen.Izquierdo to topple the Spanish
authority in the Philippines by exaggerating it to include not only the native soldiers but
also Cavite and Manila people and, more significantly, the native clergy. It is interesting
that the Central Governance in Madrid declared at the time that it intended to strip the
friars of all intervening authority in matters of civil government and the management and
control of educational establishments. It was thought that this turn of events had forced
the friars to take severe measures in order to preserve their hold on power in the
Philippines. The friars used the incident to their advantage and presented it to the
Spanish Government as a large conspiracy formed throughout the archipelago with the
aim of overthrowing Spanish sovereignty. They did this out of worry that their power in
the Philippines would soon become extinct. Sadly, it was revealed that the Madrid
government acceptedthe idea as fact without making any attempt to look into the truth or
the scope of the alleged "revolution" mentioned by Izquierdo and the friars.
 The Stand

 Positive Stand - Because of the previliges that were not given to the
Filipino soldiersand Cavite arsenals, the Filipinos revolted against the Spaniards.
Buteven though they were not successful, they showed nationalism forthe people. It is
also the beginning of Filipino Nationalism thateventually lead to the Philippine
Revolution. Because after this, the 3 GomBurZa priests died, this is also the part where
Rizal also became aware and wrote a novel that he dedicated for the 3 priests who died.

 Negative Stand - According to an article written by Chris Antonette

Piedad-Pugay, the report given by theGov. Gen. Rafael Izquierdo had false accusations
as well as exaggerations such as aconspiracy concerning overthrowing the Spanish
government. This explains how theCavite mutiny escalated to a war that lead to the
inclusion of innocent people. Even withthe evidence of the official report, having been
proven by identifying the motive of theoposition that the official report may have been
false and have been tampered with, thisevidence can be regarded as invalid and null.In
the year 1872, Cavite Mutiny was formed and was unsuccessful due to
themisunderstanding of the fireworks display in an area in Manila as a sign of rebellion
andnone of the reinforcements came. Historia Civiteña (2014, January)On that same year,
thethree Catholic priests (Mariano Gomez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora) were
executeddue to false accusations of treason and sedition.

 Final Stand - To what we stand on based on two different sides of the

story that was mentioned by Jose Montero y Vidaland Dr. Trinidad H Pardo De Tavera
with the noticeable changes from both perspectives. Comparing to thesetwo sides the
Spanish version shows that the mutiny was exaggerated despite its unsupported
bydocumentary evidence with another version of this Spanish version was written by
Izquierdo himself which hasthe same content, and therefore thinking about it compared
to the Filipino version according to Dr. Trinidad HPardo this was merely just a mutiny
due to the harsh government policies banishing privileges of Filipinolaborers that lead to
the dissatisfaction of the laborers. Which we think that the Filipino version was
rightenough to side on, why? Clearly because Jose Montero the historian might have
manipulated most of theevents to his own pleasure to cover up the part where Izquierdo
magnified the incident and used it as anexcuse to clamp down on those Filipinos who
had been calling for governmental reform.Having been shown evidences and by
analyzing both statements from the two sides (The Spanish and Filipinoperspective),
there can be only one choice which is with the Filipino’s side. This is because of the
fabricatedreport concerning the reason why the Filipino laborers started the rebellion. It
is both morally wrong and illegalto fabricate an official report specially when the
receiver of said report is the government itself. Anotherreason is that the fear of the
Spanish church on having their authority, as well as control over the governmentand its
laws taken, lead them to act rashly in order to try and secure said control over authority.
 References
https://www.britannica.com/topic/mutiny

https://military-
history.fandom.com/wiki/1872_Cavite_mutiny

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1872_Cavite_mutiny

https://nhcp.gov.ph/the-two-faces-of-the-1872-cavite-
mutiny/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_Pardo_de_Tavera

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomburza