RPH DRAFT

The 1872 Cavite Mutiny

I. Historical Background

The mutiny is a movement caused by an event in January of 1872 when the

soldiers of the Engineering and Artillery Corps were subjected to pay personal taxes. It is
known that the soldiers were formerly exempted from paying taxes and in addition to
this, the soldiers were also required to perform “polo y servicio” a forced labor ordered
by Governor-General Rafael de Izquierdo. The soldiers put in motion a mutiny after
finding out that their pay was already taxed and charged for a payment to be absolved
from the so-called “polo y servicio'' known as the „falla‟.

On January 20, 1872, an estimate of 200 soldiers and laborers was led by Sgt.
Fernando la Madrid of the Spanish arsenal, Fort San Felipe to the military uprising that
they expected to advance as a national uprising and ended up killing 11 Spanish officers.
The word about the mutiny spread like a wildfire that reached Manila and failed the
expectations of the mutineers when they thought that the soldiers situated in Manila
would join them after hearing alleged gunshots but were only a result of the fireworks
that were fired for the Our Lady of Loreto, the patron of Sampaloc fiesta. The soldiers
were left with no choice but to submit themselves as General Felipe Ginoves led a
regiment immediately after hearing the news with the fear of Filipinos conducting a mass
revolt.

The mutineers were expatriated in Mindanao and some alleged partisans were
apprehended and worse, executed. Forty-one mutineers that were involved in the Cavite
Mutiny were put to death on January 27, 1872, a week after the said mutiny. Several days
later, on February 6, 1872, another 11 mutineers were enacted to life imprisonment. The
latter was thrown out to Guam, Mariana Islands.

Even though the mutiny was unsuccessful, it is believed that it was the mark and
genesis of the Filipino nationalism that later on piqued the 1896 Philippine Revolution.

II. Conflicting Views (Spanish accounts and Filipino accounts of the Cavite Mutiny)

There are 2 faces of the 1872 Cavite Mutiny (Pugay, 2012. National Historical
Commision of the Phlippines)

There are two major events that happened in 1872. First, the 1872 Cavite Mutiny and the
other was the martyrdom (death) of the three martyr priests: Fathers Mariano Gomes,
Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora - (GOMBURZA).
However, not all of us knew that there were different accounts in reference to the said
event. Like the saying, “There are always two sides of every story” All Filipinos the
different sides of the story.
1872 Cavite Mutiny: Spanish Perspective
The Cavite Mutiny is an aim of natives to get rid of the Spanish government in the Philippines,
due to the abolition of privileges enjoyed by the laborers of the Cavite arsenal such as: non-
payment of tributes and forced labor.

1872 Cavite Mutiny: Filipino’s Perspective

While for the views of the Filipinos, The statement that the Spaniard have said w8as only bluff
since the Filipinos have no intention of separation from Spain rather the Mutiny was to secure
materials and education advancements in the country.

III. Background of the author

Jose Montero y Vidal is a Spanish Historian, who interpreted that the Mutiny was an attempt to
remove and overthrow the Spanish Colonizers in the Philippines. His account, corroborated with
the account of Governor - General Rafael Izquidero y Gutierrez, the governor-general of the
Philippine Islands during the Mutiny.

Jose Montero y Vidal

• Born on January 28, 1851
• Born in Andalusian Town of Gergal
• Went to Madrid to study law
• Government official residing in Manila in 1872
• Civil Governor in colonial provinces of the Spanish Empire in 1875
• Married Carolina Marin-Baldo Burgueros in Murcia and had 4 children

Dr. Trinidad Hermenigildo Pardo de Tavera was born on 13 April 1857 to Spanish lawyer
and government official Félix Pardo de Tavera and Juliana Gorrich from a wealthy, illustrious
Filipino family.

Trinidad was known in his early years as Trini. When the Glorious Revolution broke out in
Spain in 1868 to overthrow Isabella II, Joaquín was named one of the assemblymen to push
reforms in the Philippines. In 1869, they presented a list of reforms to the liberal governor Carlos
María de la Torre which made the peninsulares or Spaniards born in mainland Spain, outrageous.
In 1871, de la Torre was replaced by Rafael de Izquierdo. In 1872, a mutiny broke out in Cavite
and Joaquín was one of the alleged mutineers arrested by Izquierdo and was imprisoned in Fort
Santiago. By 15 February 1872, Joaquín was sentenced to be deported in Guam. Three years
later, his sentence was lifted and he was pardoned as one of the suspects of the mutiny. Because
of the harassment and humiliation, Joaquín chose not to return to Manila, and reside together
with his wife in Paris instead.

Trinidad was already a student at these times. He finished his primary and secondary education
at Ateneo Municipal de Manila. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1873 at Colegio de
San Juan de Letran. By 1875, he was midway of his study of medicine at University of Santo
Tomas when his uncle Joaquín, sent an invitation for them to reside in Paris and pursue
education in France.
IV. Arguments/ evidences presented to support view

Spanish:
The Collaboration of Accounts of Jose Montero y Vidal and Rafael Izquiedro y Gutierrez serves
as evidence for what the Spaniards believe in.

Jose Montero y Vidal, a Spanish Historian, interpreted that the Mutiny was an attempt
for the Indios to remove and overthrow the Spanish Colonizers in the Philippines.

His account, together with the account of Governor-General Rafael Izquiedro y

Gutierrez, the governor-general of the Philippine Islands during the Mutiny, mentioned
that the mutiny was powered by a group of native clergy (native priests).

Governor-General Izquierdo reported to the King of Spain that the “rebels”

(natives) wanted to overthrow the Spanish government to install a new “hari”
in the likes of Fathers Burgos and Zamora.

Governor-General Izquierdo insisted that the mutiny is stimulated and

prepared by the native clergy (the native priests), mestizos and lawyers as a
signal of objection against the injustices of the Spanish government such as not
paying provinces for tobacco crops, pay tribute and rendering of forced labor.

Governor-General Izquierdo believed that the indios planned to eliminate high-

ranking officials and to massacre the friars then afterwards believed that the
indios would set at the supreme of the government a priest and the leader whom
they selected would be Jose Burgos or Jacinto Zamora who guided the rebels
with their plan.

On 17 February 1872 in an attempt of the Spanish government and

Frailocracia to instill fear among the Filipinos so that they may never commit
such a daring act/mutiny again, the GOMBURZA were executed. This event was
tragic but served as one of the moving forces that shaped Filipino nationalism.

As for the Filipinos, the Account of Pardo de Tavera serves as an evidence for the statement
made by our fellow countrymen.

Dr. Trinidad Hermenigildo Pardo de Tavera, a Filipino scholar and researcher, wrote
the Filipino version of the bloody incident in Cavite.

In his point of view, the incident was a mere mutiny by the native Filipino
soldiers and laborers of the Cavite arsenal who turned out to be dissatisfied with
the abolition of their privileges.
The Filipinos have no intention of separation from Spain but only secure
materials and education advancements in the country
Tavera blamed Governor-General Izquierdo‟s cold-blooded policies such as the
abolition of privileges of the workers and native army members of the arsenal and
the prohibition of the founding of school of arts and trades for the Filipinos.
 Tavera believed that the Spanish friars and Izquierdo used the Cavite Mutiny as
a powerful lever by magnifying it as a full-blown conspiracy involving not only
the native army but also included residents of Cavite and Manila, and more
importantly the native clergy to overthrow the Spanish government in the
Philippines.

Also, in this time, the Central Government in Madrid deprived friars of the
powers of involvement in civil government and in governing and handling
universities. -- Tavera believed that this turnout of events prompted the friars to
do something drastic in their dire desire to maintain power in the Philippines.

The friars took advantage of the incident (mutiny) and presented it to the Spanish
Government as a vast conspiracy organized throughout the archipelago with the
object of destroying Spanish sovereignty. -- Tavera sadly confirmed that the
Madrid government came to believe that the scheme was true without any
attempt to investigate the real facts or extent of the alleged “revolution”
reported by Izquierdo and the friars.

Convicted educated men who participated in the mutiny were sentenced life
imprisonment while members of the native clergy headed by the GOMBURZA
were tried and executed by garrote. This event led to the awakening of
nationalism and eventually to the outbreak of Philippine Revolution of 1896.

The Killings of the GomBurZa Priests.

The Spaniards used the incident of the Mutineers to justify the killings that they
perpetrated with the Filipinos, and sadly, the GomBurZa Priests are one of the
victims of this horrendous execution. Their reason was so that the Filipinos
would never commit such act/mutiny again.

V. Evaluation/ position of the group

Although the Cavite Mutiny saw the execution of the Spanish commander and
officials, the overreaction of the Spanish government wherein a number of residences of
Cavite became subject to unjust execution and imprisonment and without proper
investigation who the suspects were, little to no effort was made to separate the innocent
with the guilty, this included Spaniards born in the Philippines as well as the Chinese
and Indians.

Captain-General Izqiuerdo, as the successor of La Torre, and the friars conspired

and exaggerated that this was the mark of the natives growing desire of independence
from Spanish rule, even though it was about the abolishment of privileges given to the
forced laborers in the arsenal who were exempted from taxes and certain work days.
Captain-General Izqiuerdo established oppressive policies after the incident and the
denial of a school of trade and arts requested by the people who funded it, as he thought it
was a disguise to hide a political party of nationalists. The more well-educated and well
 known people became the target of scrutiny as a result of the aforementioned fear of an
uprising.

Despite the efforts of the Spanish government and historian Jose Montero y Vidal
to conceal and distort the truth of the rebellion along with the policies made to forget the
event existed ironically accelerated the Filipinos desire for independence, and as the
Cavite mutiny spread through islands like flames in a forest, alongside was the idea of
revolution.

Sources: (Chicago Manual of Style Format)

“1872 Cavite Mutiny.” Military Wiki. Accessed September 18, 2020.

https://military.wikia.org/wiki/1872_Cavite_mutiny.

“The Two Faces of the 1872 Cavite Mutiny.” National Historical Commission of the
Philippines, September 6, 2015. https://nhcp.gov.ph/the-two-faces-of-the-1872-cavite-
mutiny/.

“1872 Cavite Mutiny.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1872_Cavite_mutiny

“Rafael Izquierdo y Guiterrez” Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Izquierdo_y_Guti%C3%A9rrez