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Martyrdom : (8) Garrote

The execution of three Filipino priests - Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora (collectively known as Gomburza) in 1872 by Spanish authorities had significant historical impacts. It intensified Philippine nationalism and was a pivotal event leading to the Philippine Revolution in the late 19th century. While Spanish historians at the time claimed the priests were involved in sedition and a mutiny, their trial and execution were clouded in controversy and helped spark nationalist sentiment among Filipinos.

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43 views

Martyrdom : (8) Garrote

The execution of three Filipino priests - Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora (collectively known as Gomburza) in 1872 by Spanish authorities had significant historical impacts. It intensified Philippine nationalism and was a pivotal event leading to the Philippine Revolution in the late 19th century. While Spanish historians at the time claimed the priests were involved in sedition and a mutiny, their trial and execution were clouded in controversy and helped spark nationalist sentiment among Filipinos.

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alondra gayon
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Martyrdom[edit]

The execution of Gomburza remains one of the most controversial issues


deeply embedded in Philippine history. However, their tragic end led to the
dawn of Philippine Nationalism in the 19th century, intensified by Dr. Jose
P. Rizal, in dedicating his second novel entitled El Filibusterismo which
condemned the Spanish rule and the elite Filipinos. In his novel, Rizal wrote
"To the memory of the priests, Don Mariano Gomez (89 years old), Don
Jose Burgos (40 years old), and Don Jacinto Zamora (55 years old).
Executed in Bagumbayan Field on 25th of February, 1897. The church, by
refusing to degrade you, has placed in doubt the crime that has been imputed
to you; the government, by surrounding your trials with mystery and
shadows causes the belief that there was some error, committed in fatal
moments; and all the Philippines, by worshiping your memory and calling
you martyrs, in no sense recognizes your capability. In so far, therefore, as
your complicity in the Cavite Mutiny is not proved, as you may or may not
have been patriots, and as you may or may not cherish sentiments for justice
and liberty, I have the right to dedicate my work to you as victims of the evil
which I undertake in combat." It must be noted, however, that Rizal's
account was erroneous in detail as the execution took place on February 17,
1872, not on February 28, 1872, as Rizal mistakenly mentions. Additionally,
the ages of the priests were listed down inaccurately. At the time of the
execution, Gomez was 72 years old, Burgos was 35 years old, and Zamora
was 36 years old.[8]

Their deaths were facilitated in a public execution at Bagumbayan (Luzon)


using a garrote due to false accusations charged against them by Spanish
authorities. Their alleged crimes included treason and sedition for being the
supposed masterminds of the insurrection of Indios (native Filipinos)
working in the Cavite arsenal. Furthermore, according to the Spanish
military tribunal, they were believed to have been a part of a clandestine
movement aimed to overthrow the Spanish government, making them a
threat to the Spanish Clergy.[9] The execution has since been labeled the
Terror of 1872 and is recognized as a pivotal event contributing to the
later Philippine Revolution from 1896 to 1898.

Historical accounts[edit]
Historical marker for the Gomburza National Monument in Manila

The Execution was documented by a Spanish historian named Jose Montero


y Vidal who wrote a book entitled Historia General de Filipinas that centers
on a Spaniard's perspective of the Cavite Mutiny. The inclusion of biased
story-telling of the reasons for the execution of Gomburza later gained
widespread criticisms.[10]

Vidal's account was corroborated by the then Governor-General Rafael


Izquierdo y Gutiérrez. In his report, he narrated that the abolition of
privileges enjoyed by the workers of Cavite arsenals caused the
"revolution". He also blamed the media, specifically the Spanish press,
regardless of democratic, liberal, or republican affiliation, for the circulation
of unrestrained media. The latter is said to have featured propaganda such as
overthrowing a secular throne, which allegedly inspired the Indios (native
Filipinos) to organize the mutiny. General Izquierdo also mentioned the
native clergy being a part of the rebels who were against the Spanish friars.
The clergy supposedly wanted to end the hold of Spain over the Philippines
to elect a new hari who would rule the land and named Fathers Jose Burgos
and Jacinto Zamora to be the ones responsible. The accounts of these two
Spaniards supported one another, thus pointing to a planned conspiracy
among educated leaders, mestizos, abogadillos, Manila and Cavite residents,
and native clergy. Furthermore, on June 20, 1872, the feast of the Virgin
Loreto was celebrated in the district of Sampaloc, involving a fireworks
display as a normal tradition. However, according to Izquierdo and Vidal,
the fireworks mislead those in Cavite, causing them to attack Spanish
officers, fulfilling republican wishes to eradicate the Spanish presence.
There was also a mass murder of friars, which made the arrest of Gomburza
legal. Through a quick court trial, they were sentenced to death by
strangulation.[1]
However, speculate arise with their swift end that stirred the public, with
some of the controversies published by Philippine News Agency. The
reports stated that the Spanish prosecutors bribed a witness to testify against
the three priests who were charged with sedition and treason, which led to
their death by garrote. Moreover, according to Edmund Plauchut, as quoted
by Jaime Veneracion, late on the night of February 15, 1872, the three
priests were found guilty of treason as instigators of mutiny in the Cavite
Navy-yard and were sentenced to death by Spanish Court martial. The
judgement of the court was read to the priest in Fort Santiago the next
morning, and they were told that they would be executed the following day
(February 17, 1872). After they heard the sentence, Burgos broke into sobs,
Zamora lost his mind and never recovered it, and only Gomez listened
impassively.[11]

Almost forty thousand of Filipinos, who were at different places


surrounding the platform, witnessed the execution of the Filipino priest and
saw Saldua (the artilleryman who testified for the conviction of the priest).
When Gomez's confessor, a Recollect friar, exhorted him loudly to accept
his fate, he replied: "Father, I know that not a leaf falls to the ground but by
the will of God. Since He wills that I should die here, His holy will be
done."

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