 The 12th of June of every year since

1898 is a very important event for all

the Filipinos.
 In this particular day, the entire
Filipino nation as well as Filipino
communities all over the world gathers
to celebrate the Philippines’
Independence Day.
 1898 came to be a very significant year for all
of us— it is as equally important as 1896—
the year when the Philippine Revolution
broke out owing to the Filipinos’ desire to be
free from the abuses of the Spanish colonial
regime.
 But we should be reminded that another
year is as historic as the two—1872.
TWO MAJOR EVENTS IN 1872
1. the 1872 Cavite Mutiny and
2. the martyrdom of the three
martyr priests in the persons of
Fathers Mariano Gomes, Jose
Burgos and Jacinto Zamora
(GOMBURZA).
1872 Cavite Mutiny: Spanish
Perspective
Jose Montero y Vidal, a prolific Spanish historian
documented the event and highlighted it as an
attempt of the Indios to overthrow the Spanish
government in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Gov. Gen. Rafael Izquierdo’s official
report magnified the event and made use of it to
implicate the native clergy, which was then active in
the call for secularization. The two accounts
complimented and corroborated with one other, only
that the general’s report was more spiteful.
COMMON THING BETWEEN
MONTERO AND IZQUIERDO
 Initially, both Montero and Izquierdo scored
out that
the abolition of privileges enjoyed by the
workers of Cavite arsenal such as non-
payment of tributes and exemption from
force labor were the main reasons of the
“revolution” as how they called it, however,
other causes were enumerated by them
including:
the Spanish Revolution which overthrew the secular
throne,
dirty propagandas proliferated by unrestrained press,
democratic, liberal and republican books and
pamphlets reaching the Philippines,
and most importantly, the presence of the native
clergy who out of animosity against the Spanish friars,
“conspired and supported” the rebels and enemies of
Spain.
 In particular, Izquierdo blamed the unruly Spanish
Press for “stockpiling” malicious propagandas grasped
by the Filipinos.
 He reported to the King of Spain that the “rebels”
wanted to overthrow the Spanish government to install
a new “hari” in the likes of Fathers Burgos and
Zamora.
 The general even added that the native clergy enticed
other participants by giving them charismatic
assurance that their fight will not fail because God
is with them coupled with handsome promises of
rewards such as employment, wealth, and ranks in the
army.
 Izquierdo, in his report lambasted the Indios as
gullible and possessed an innate propensity for
stealing.
The two Spaniards deemed that the event of 1872 was
planned earlier and was thought of it as a big
conspiracy among educated leaders, mestizos,
abogadillos or native lawyers, residents of Manila and
Cavite and the native clergy.
They insinuated that the conspirators of Manila and
Cavite planned to liquidate high-ranking Spanish
officers to be followed by the massacre of the friars.
The alleged pre-concerted signal among the
conspirators of Manila and Cavite was the firing of
rockets from the walls of Intramuros.
 According to the accounts of the two, on 20 January
1872, the district of Sampaloc celebrated the feast of
the Virgin of Loreto, unfortunately participants to the
feast celebrated the occasion with the usual fireworks
displays.
 Allegedly, those in Cavite mistook the fireworks as the
sign for the attack, and just like what was agreed upon,
the 200-men contingent headed by Sergeant Lamadrid
launched an attack targeting Spanish officers at sight
and seized the arsenal.
 When the news reached the iron-fisted Gov.
Izquierdo, he readily ordered the reinforcement of the
Spanish forces in Cavite to quell the revolt.
 The “revolution” was easily crushed when the expected
reinforcement from Manila did not come ashore.
 Major instigators including Sergeant Lamadrid were
killed in the skirmish,
 while the GOMBURZA were tried by a court-martial
and were sentenced to die by strangulation.
 Patriots like Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Antonio Ma.
Regidor, Jose and Pio Basa and other abogadillos were
suspended by the Audencia (High Court) from the
practice of law, arrested and were sentenced with life
imprisonment at the Marianas Island.
 Furthermore, Gov. Izquierdo dissolved the native
regiments of artillery and ordered the creation of
artillery force to be composed exclusively of the
Peninsulares.
 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 daring
act again, the GOMBURZA were executed. This
event was tragic but served as one of the moving forces
that shaped Filipino nationalism.
A Response to Injustice: The
Filipino Version of the Incident
 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.
MUTINY
Conspiracy among a group of
people to openly oppose,
change or overthrow a lawful
authority of which they do not
agree.
 Indirectly, Tavera blamed Gov. 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, which the general
believed as a cover-up for the organization
of a political club.
 On 20 January 1872,
 about 200 men comprised of soldiers,
laborers of the arsenal, and residents of
Cavite headed by Sergeant Lamadrid
rose in arms and assassinated the
commanding officer and Spanish
officers in sight.
 The insurgents were expecting support
from the bulk of the army unfortunately,
that didn’t happen.
 The news about the mutiny reached
authorities in Manila and Gen. Izquierdo
immediately ordered the reinforcement of
Spanish troops in Cavite. After two days,
the mutiny was officially declared
subdued.
 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.
It is noteworthy that during the time, the Central
Government in Madrid announced its intention to
deprive the friars of all the powers of
intervention in matters of civil government
and the direction and management of
educational institutions.
This turnout of events was believed by Tavera,
prompted the friars to do something drastic in
their dire sedire to maintain power in the
Philippines.
Meanwhile, in the intention of
installing reforms, the Central
Government of Spain welcomed an
educational decree authored by
Segismundo Moret promoted the
fusion of sectarian schools run by
the friars into a school called
Philippine Institute.
 The decree proposed to improve the
standard of education in the Philippines
by:
 requiring teaching positions in such
schools to be filled by competitive
examinations. This improvement was
warmly received by most Filipinos in spite
of the native clergy’s zest for
secularization.
 The friars, fearing that their influence in the
Philippines would be a thing of the past, took
advantage of the incident 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 episode leads to the awakening of nationalism
and eventually to the outbreak of Philippine
Revolution of 1896.

 The French writer Edmund Plauchut’s

account complimented Tavera’s account by confirming
that the event happened due to discontentment of the
arsenal workers and soldiers in Cavite fort. The
Frenchman, however, dwelt more on the execution of
the three martyr priests which he actually witnessed.
Unraveling the Truth
Considering the four accounts of the 1872
Mutiny, there were some basic facts that
remained to be unvarying:
First, there was dissatisfaction among the
workers of the arsenal as well as the
members of the native army after their
privileges were drawn back by Gen.
Izquierdo;
Second, Gen. Izquierdo introduced rigid
and strict policies that made the Filipinos
move and turn away from Spanish
government out of disgust;
Third, the Central Government failed to
conduct an investigation on what truly
transpired but relied on reports of Izquierdo
and the friars and the opinion of the public;
Fourth, the happy days of the friars were
already numbered in 1872 when the
Central Government in Spain decided to
deprive them of the power to intervene in
government affairs as well as in the
direction and management of schools
prompting them to commit frantic moves
to extend their stay and power;
Fifth, the Filipino clergy members actively
participated in the secularization movement
in order to allow Filipino priests to take
hold of the parishes in the country making
them prey to the rage of the friars;
Sixth, Filipinos during the time were active
participants, and responded to what they
deemed as injustices;
 and Lastly, the execution of GOMBURZA
was a blunder on the part of the Spanish
government, for the action severed the ill-
feelings of the Filipinos and the event
inspired Filipino patriots to call for reforms
and eventually independence. There may
be different versions of the event, but one
thing is certain, the 1872 Cavite Mutiny
paved way for a momentous 1898.
The road to independence was
rough and tough to toddle,
many patriots named and
unnamed shed their bloods to
attain reforms and achieve
independence.
 12 June 1898 may be a glorious event for
us, but we should not forget that before we
came across to victory, our forefathers
suffered enough. As we enjoy our freedom,
may we be more historically aware of our
past to have a better future ahead of
us. And just like what Elias said in Noli me
Tangere, may we “not forget those who fell
during the night.”