Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Prepared by;
Cristy M. Awit
Althea Charisse M. Cartalla
Liana Nicole T. Dela Cruz
Oshin T. Egpit
Floraly C. Garde
Sarah Jane A. Magdipig
Estela M. Masangay
Romarliza R. Paulin
Jevy P. Pingkian
April Myles G. Sahidsahid
Princess D. Tan
BACKGROUND
Our country has a lot of important history that will always be remembered
by all of us, especially the Philippine’s Independence that all Filipino people
celebrated in 12th of June. But in year 1872 there was two major events
happened in the Philippines which are the Cavite mutiny and the execution of
GOMBURZA, and these historical event lead Rizal on writing his two famous
novels and gaining the Philippine Independence. At the age of 10 Jose Rizal
and his brother Paciano witnessed the execution of GOMBURZA that made
Rizal on writing the two novels. He realized how cruel and abusive the Spanish
colonizers, so he dedicated the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo to the
GOMBURZA.
The Cavite mutiny was an uprising of Filipino military personnel of Fort San
Felipe, the Spanish arsenal in Cavite, Philippine Islands. The mutiny was build
because of the unfair treatment of Spanish officers in implementing the
payment of tributes, as well as the imposition of forced labor (polo y servecio)
which supposedly the soldiers and workers should be exempted. However, not
all of us knew that there were two different versions of the said event, the
Spanish version and Filipino version. According to a historian, the mutiny
aimed to overthrow the Spanish colonial government in the Philippines. The
mutiny’s masterminds were three Filipino priests, Mariano Gomez, Jose
Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, more commonly known as “Gomburza,”. It said
that the root cause of the mutiny was the stripping of privileges of the soldiers
and workers of the Cavite arsenal, particularly their exemption from payment of
tributes and forced labor. The workers were asking the Spanish officials to
reinstate their privileges. While according to Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, a
Filipino physician, historian, and politician, the mutiny simply started as a rally
organized by the workers of the arsenal pushing for the acquisition of sufficient
resources as well as reforms in the educational system in the Philippines, an
objective that was far different from what the Spanish officers suggested.
However, the Spanish friars, afraid of losing their hold on the Filipinos as well
as the privileges they enjoyed, told the Spanish authorities that the Filipino
workers aimed to free themselves from Spanish rule.
(1872) – It is a historic year of two events: the Cavite Mutiny and the
martyrdom of three priests: Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora
(GOMBURZA).
It seems clear that the native clergy, mestizo and native lawyers, and those
locally referred to as "abogadillos" were behind and prepared the insurrection.
In order to carry out their criminal project, the instigators protested against
the government's injustice in not paying the provinces for their tobacco crop as
well as against some usury practices in the documents that the Finance
department provides crop owners who must sell their crops at a loss. They
promoted the rebellion by criticizing what they saw as the injustice of forcing
the former exempt employees of the Cavite arsenal to begin paying tribute and
performing personal service as of January 1. It has not yet been determined
with certainty whether they intended to establish a monarchy or a republic
because the Indios lack a word in their language to describe this alternative
form of government, whose head would be known as hari in Filipino. However,
it has since been discovered that they intended to put a priest at the head of
the government, and the priest they chose would be D. D., Jose Burgos, or
Zamora, Jacinto
The event of 1872, according to the Spanish accounts, was planned and
was a part of a large conspiracy involving educated leaders, mestizos, lawyers,
and residents of Manila and Cavite. They allegedly intended to assassinate
senior Spanish officers before killing the friars. The rockets fired from
Intramuros were the signal that these conspirators from Manila and Cavite
were involved.
The accounts describe how the Sampaloc district celebrated the Virgin of
Loreto feast day on January 20, 1872, along with a fireworks display.
According to reports, the Cavite residents mistook this for permission to start
the attack. The 200-man contingent under the command of Sergeant Madrid
immediately engaged Spanish officers and took the arsenal. Izquierdo ordered
the Spanish forces in Cavite to be bolstered after learning about the attack in
order to put an end to the uprising.
When the Manilenos who were supposed to help the Cavitenos did not show
up, the "revolution" was quickly put an end to. In the ensuing battle, the plot's
leaders were slain, and Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora were tried by a
court-martial and given death sentences. There were other people involved,
including Antonio Ma and Joaquin de Tavera. Regidor, Jose and Pio Basa, as
well as other Filipino attorneys, had their licenses revoked, were taken into
custody, and received life sentences on Marianas Island. Izquierdo ordered
the formation of an artillery force made up only of Peninsulares after dissolving
the native regiments of artillery.
Tavera is of the opinion that the Spanish friars and Izquierdo used the Cavite
Mutiny as a way to address other issues by blowing out proportion the isolated
mutiny attempt. During this time, the Central Government in Madrid was
planning to deprive the friars of all the powers of intervention in the 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.
Six Spanish officials and a few friars made up the junta that General La
Torre assembled. A Madrid-based committee was established at the same
time to look into the same issues brought up by the Manila committee. When
the two finishedwork, it was found that they came to the same conclusions.
Here is the summary of the reformsthey considered necessary to introduced:
CONCLUSIONS
For us Filipinos who want to voice our own opinions against the
Government and other groups that are mistreating our nation and its citizens,
these events serve as a source of inspiration and caution. We need to know
when and how to express our thoughts in a safe and effective manner since
we risk being unfairly accused, just like the Three priests were back then. In
conclusion, I do think that the Cavite Mutiny is relevant in today’s society
because of how it affected our morals, beliefs, and rights
Rafael Izquirdo, “Official Report on the Cavite Mutiny,” in Gregorio Zaide and
Sonia Zaide, Documentary Sources of Philippine History, Volume 7 (Manila:
National Book Store, 1990), 281-286.