MODULE 5 CONTROVERSIES AND CONFLICTING VIEWS IN

PHILIPPINE HISTORY: CAVITE MUTINY

WEEK 5
LEARNING GOALS:
 Interpret historical events using the primary source: Cavity Mutiny
 Discuss the significance of the Cavite Mutiny to us Filipinos
 Compare and Contrast the primary sources given.

Activating Prior Knowledge

In this activity, you will learn a brief background about the conflicting views in Philippine history; the site of the
first mass.
 To be answered in the SAMS portal

Topic Discussion / Module Content

NOTE:
The GOMBURZA is the collective name of the three martyred priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and
Jacinto Zamora, who were tagged as the masterminds of the Cavite Mutiny. They were prominent Filipino priests
charged with treason and sedition. It is believed that the Spanish clergy connected the priests to the mutiny as part
of the conspiracy to stifle the movement of the secular priests who desired to have their own parishes instead of
being merely assistants to the regular friars. The GOMBURZA were executed by garotte in public, a scene
purportedly witnessed by a young Jose Rizal.
Their martyrdom is widely accepted as the dawn of Philippine nationalism in the nineteenth century, with
Rizal dedicating his second novel, El Filibusterismo, to their memory:
“The government, by enshrouding your trial in mystery and pardoning your co-accused, has suggested
that some mistake was committed when your fate was decided; and the whole of the Philippines, in paying
homage to your memory and calling you Martyrs, totally rejects your guilt. The church, by refusing to degrade
you, has put in doubt the crime charged against you.”

CASE STUDY 2: WHAT HAPPENED IN THE CAVITE MUTINY?

(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).

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Hubert Lawrence A. Isok
 SPANISH ACCOUNTS OF THE CAVITE MUNITY
The documentation of Spanish historian Jose Montero y Vidal centered on how the event was an attempt
in overthrowing the Spanish government in the Philippines. Although regarded as a historian, his account of the
mutiny was criticized as woefully biased and rabid for a scholar. Another account from the official report written
by Governor General Rafael Izquierdo implicated the native clergy, who were then, active in the movement
toward secularization of parishes. These two accounts corroborated each other.

PRIMARY SOURCE: EXCERPT FROM MONTERO’S ACCOUNT OF THE CAVITE

MUTINY
Source: Jose Montero y Vidal, “Spanish Version of the Cavite Mutiny of 1872” in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia
Zaide, Documentary Sources of Philippine History, Volume 7 (Manila: National Book Store, 1990), 269-273
The abolition of privileges enjoyed by the laborers of the Cavite arsenal of exemption from the tribute
was, according to some, the cause of the insurrection. There were, however, other causes.
The Spanish revolution which overthrew a secular throne; the propaganda carried on by an unbridled press
against monarchical principles, attentatory [sic] of the most sacred respects towards the dethroned majesty; the
democratic and republican books and pamphlets; the speech and preaching of the apostles of these new ideas in
Spain; the outbursts of the American publicists and the criminal policy of the senseless Governor whom the
Revolutionary government sent to govern the Philippines, and who put into practice these ideas were the

determining circumstances that gave rise, among certain Filipinos, to the idea of attaining their independence. It
was towards this goal that they started work, with the powerful assistance of a certain section of the native clergy,
who out of spite towards friars, made common cause with the enemies of the mother country.
At various times but especially in the beginning of the year 1872, the authorities received anonymous
communication with the information that a great uprising would break out against the Spaniards, the minute the
fleet at Cavite left for the South, and that all would be assassinated, the conspiracy had been going on since the
days of La Torre with utmost secrecy. At times, the principal leaders met either in the house of Filipino Spaniard,
D. Joaquin Pardo de Tavera or in that of the native curate of Bacoor, the soul of the movement, whose energetic
character and immense wealth enabled him to exercise a strong influence.

PRIMARY SOURCES: EXCERPTS FROM THE OFFICIAL REPORT OF

GOVERNORIZQUIERDO ON THE CAVITE MUTINY OF 1872
Source: 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.
It seems definite that the insurrection was motivated and prepared by the native clergy, by the mestizos
and native lawyers, and by those known here as abogadillos.

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Hubert Lawrence A. Isok
 The instigators, to carry out their criminal project, protested against the injustice of the government in not
paying the provinces for their tobacco crop, and against the usury that some practice in documents that the Finance
department gives crop owners who have to sell them at a loss. They encouraged the rebellion by pretesting what
they called the injustice of having obliged the workers in the Cavite arsenal to pay tribute starting January 1 and
render personal service from which they were formerly exempted. Up to, now it has not been clearly determined
if they planned to establish a monarchy or a republic, because the Indios have no word in their language to describe
this different form of government, whose head in Filipino would be called hari; but it turns out that they would
place at the head of the government a priest that the head selected would be D. Jose Burgos or D. Jacinto, Zamora.
Such is the plan of the rebels, those who guided them, and the means they counted upon for its realization.
It is apparent that the accounts underscore the reason for the “revolution”: the abolition of privileges enjoyed by
the workers of the Cavite arsenal such as exemption from the payment of tribute and being employed in polos y
servicios, or force labor. They also identified other reasons which seemingly made the issue a lot more serious,
which include the presence of the native clergy, who, out of spite against the Spanish friars, “conspired and
supported” the rebels. Izquierdo, in an obviously biased report, highlighted the attempt to overthrow the Spanish
government in the Philippines to install a new “hari” in the persons of Fathers Burgos and Zamora. According to
him, native clergy attracted supporters by giving them charismatic assurance that their fight would not fail because
they had God’s support, aside from promises of lofty rewards such as employment, wealth, and ranks in the army.
In the Spaniard’s accounts, the event of 1872 was premeditated and was part of a big conspiracy among
the educated leaders, mestizos, lawyers, and residents of Manila and Cavite. They allegedly plan to liquidate high-
ranking Spanish officers, then kill the friars. The signal they identified among these conspirators of Manila and
Cavite was the rockets fired from Intramuros.
The accounts detail that on 20 January 1872, the district of Sampaloc celebrated the feast of the Virgin of
Loreto, and came with it were some fireworks display. The Caviteños allegedly mistook this as the signal to
commence the attack. The 200-men contingent led by Sergeant Lamadrid attacked Spanish officers at sight and
seized the arsenal. Izquierdo, upon learning of the attack, ordered the reinforcement of the Spanish forces in
Cavite to quell the revolt. The “revolution” was easily crushed when the Manilenos who were expected to aid the
Cavitenos did not arrive. Leaders of the plot were killed in the resulting skirmish, while Fathers Gomez, Burgos,
and Zamora were tried by a court-martial and sentenced to be executed. Others who were implicated such as
Joaquin de Tavera, Antonio Ma. Regidor, Jose and Pio Basa, and other Filipino lawyers were suspended from the
practice of law, arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment on Marianas Island. Izquierdo dissolved the native
regiments of artillery and ordered the creation of an artillery force composed exclusively of Peninsulares. On 17
February 1872, the GOMBURZA were executed to serve as a threat to Filipinos never to attempt to fight the
Spaniards again.

DIFFERING ACCOUNTS OF THE EVENTS OF 1872

Two other primary accounts that seem to counter the accounts of Izquierdo and Montero. First, the account
of Dr. Trinidad Hermenegildo Pardo de Tavera, a Filipino scholar, and researcher, who wrote a Filipino version
of the bloody incident in Cavite.

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Hubert Lawrence A. Isok
 PRIMARY SOURCE: EXCERPT FROM PARDO DE TAVERA’S ACCOUNT OF
THECAVITE MUTINY
Source: Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, “Filipino Version of Cavite Mutiny,” in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia
Zaide, Documentary Sources f Philippine History, Volume 7 (Manila; National Book Store, 1990),274—280.
This uprising among soldiers in Cavite was used at a powerful level by the Spanish residents and by the
friars. The General Government in Madrid had announced its intention to deprive the friars in these islands of
powers of intervention in the matters of civil government and of the direction and management of the university.
It was due to these facts and promises that the Filipinos had great hopes of an improvement in the affairs of their
country, while the friars, on the other hand, feared that their power in the colony would soon be complete a thing
of the past. Up to that time, there had been no intention of secession from Spain, and the only aspiration of the
people was to secure the material and educational advancement of the country.
According to this account, the incident was merely a multiply by Filipino soldiers and laborers of the
Cavite arsenal to the dissatisfaction arising from the draconian policies of Izquiedor, such as the abolition of
privileges and the prohibition of the founding of the school of arts and trades for Filipinos, which the General saw
as a smokescreen to creating a political club.
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.

However, the Central Spaniards Government introduced an educational decree fusing sectarian schools
run by the friars into a school called the Philippine Institute. The decree aimed to improve the standard of
education in the Philippines by requiring teaching positions in these schools to be filled by competitive
examinations, an improvement welcomed by most Filipinos.
Another account, this time by French writer Edmund Plauchut, complemented Tavera’s account and
analyzed the motivations of the 1872 Cavite Mutiny.

PRIMARY SOURCE: EXCERPTS FROM PLAUCHUT’S ACCOUNT OF THE

CAVITE MUTINY
Source: Edmund Plauchut, “The Cavite Mutiny of 1872 and the Martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za,” In the
Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide, Documentary Sources of Philippine History, Volume 7(Manila: National Book
Store, 1990), 251-268.
General La Torre created a junta composed of high officials including some friars and six Spanish
officials. At the same time there was created by the government in Madrid a committee to investigate the same
problems submitted to the Manila committee. When the two finished work, it was found that they came to the
same conclusions. Here is the summary of the reforms they considered necessary to introduce:
Prepared by:
Hubert Lawrence A. Isok
 1. Changes in tariff rates at customs, and the methods of collection.
2. Removal of surcharges on foreign importations.
3. Reduction of export fees.
4. Permission for foreigners to reside in the Philippines, buy real state, enjoy freedom of worship, and
operate commercial transports flying the Spanish flag.
5. Establishment of an advisory council to inform the Minister of Overseas Affairs in Madrid on the
necessary reforms to be implemented.
6. Changes in primary and secondary education.
7. Establishment of an Institute of Civil Administration in the Philippines, rendering unnecessary the
sending home of short-term civil officials every time there is a change of ministry.
8. Study of direct-tax system.
9. Abolition of the tobacco monopoly.

The arrival in Manila of General Izquierdo put a sudden end to all dreams of reforms the prosecutions
instituted by the now Governor General were probably expected as a result of the bitter disputes between the
Filipino clerics and the friars. Such a policy must really end in a strong desire on the part of the other to repress
cruelly.
In regard to schools, it was previously decreed that there should be in Manila a Society of Arts and Trades
to be opened in March of 1871 to repress the growth of liberal teachings, General Izquierdo suspended the opening
of the school the day previous to the scheduled inauguration.
The Filipinos had a duty to render service on public road construction and pay taxes every year. But those
who were employed at the maestranza of the artillery, in the engineering shops and arsenal of Cavite, were
exempted from this obligation from time immemorial Without preliminaries of any kind, a decree by the Governor
withdrew from such old employees their retirement privileges and declassified them into the ranks of those who
worked on public roads.
The friars used the incident as a part of a larger conspiracy to cement their dominance, which had started
to show cracks because of the discontent of the Filipinos. They showcased the mutiny as part of a greater
conspiracy in the Philippines by Filipinos to overthrow the Spanish government. Unintentionally, and more so,
prophetically, the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 resulted in the martyrdom of GOMBUZA and paved the way to the
revolution culminating in 1898.
These events are significant highlights in the Philippine history and have caused ripples right through
time, directly influencing the decisive events of the Philippines Revolution toward the end of the century. These
are considered a major factor in the awakening of nationalism among the Filipinos of that time and will continue
to serve as one up until this preset time.

MODULE 5
The worksheet will be posted in the SAMS portal
Prepared by:
Hubert Lawrence A. Isok