DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,

INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

GE Hist 1: Readings in Philippine History

Week 12

Unit 4: Historical Interpretations in Philippine History:

Spaces for Conflicts and Controversies

Learning Outcomes:
1. Examine different primary sources about what happened
in the Cavite Mutiny.
2. Compare and contrast the perspectives of the authors of
the primary sources about what happened in the Cavity
Mutiny.
3. Demonstrate ability to argue for or against a
particular issue using primary sources.

Concept Digest

Case Study 2: What Happened in the Cavite Mutiny

The year 1872 is a historic year of two events: THE

Cavite Mutiny and the martyrdom of the three priests:
Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, later on
immortalized as GOMBURZA. These events are very important
milestones in Philippine history and have caused ripples
throughout time, directly influencing the decisive events of
the Philippine Revolution toward the end of the century.
While the significance is unquestioned, what made this year
controversial are the different sides to the story., a
battle of perspectives supported by primary sources. In this
case study, we zoom in to the events of the Cavite Mutiny, a
major factor in the awakening of nationalism among the
Filipinos of that time.

Spanish Accounts of the Cavity Mutiny

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 then
Governor General Rafael Isquierdo implicated the native
clergy, who were then, active in the movement toward
secularization of parishes. These two accounts corroborated
each other.

Primary Source: Excerpts from Montero’s Account of Cavite

Mutiny

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

Source: Jose Montero y Vidal, “Spanish Version of Cavite

Mutiny of 1872,” in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide,
Documentary Source 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 form the tribute was, according
to some, the cause of the insurrection. There were, however,
other cause.
The Spanish revolution which never threw a secular throne;
the propaganda carried on by the laborers of the Cavite
arsenal of exemption form the tribute was, according to
some, the cause of the insurrection. There were, however,
other causes.

The Spanish revolution which overthrew a secular thrones the

propaganda carried on by an unbridled press against
monarchical principles, attentatory(sic)of the most sacred
rejects towards the dethroned majesty the democratic and
republican books and pamphlets; the speeches and preaching’s
of the apostles of these new ideas in Spain; the outburst of
the American publicists and the criminal policy of the
senseless Governor whom the Revolutionary government sent to
govern the Philippines, and who out into practice these
ideas were the determining circumstances which gave rise,
among certain Filipinos, to the idea of attaining their
independence. It was towards this goal that they started to
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 bit especially in the beginning of year

1872, the authorities received anonymous communications 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, including
the friars. But nobody gave importance to these notices. The
conspiracy had been going on since the dos of La Torre with
secrecy. At times, the principal leaders met either in the
house of Filipino Spaniard, D. Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, or
or in that of the native priest, Jacinto Zamora, and these
meetings were usually attended by the curate of Bacoor, the
soul of the movement, whose energetic character and immense
wealth enabled him to exercise a strong influence.

Primary Source: Excerpts from the Official Report of

Governor Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872

Source: Rafael Izquierdo “Official Report on the Cavite

Mutiny”, in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide, Documentary

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

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…
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 protesting what they
called the injustice of having obliged the workers in the
Cavite arsenal to pay tribute starting January 1 and to
render personal service, from which they were formerly
exempted.
Up to now hit has t 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 Tagalog 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
themes 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 payment
of tribute and being employed in Polos y Services, or force
labor. Further, the other reasons which made the issue a lot
more serious, which included the presence of the naive
clergy, who, out of spite against the Spanish friars,
“conspired and supported” the rebels. Izquierdo, in an
obviously biased report, highlighted that attempt to
overthrow the Spanish government in the Philippines, to
install a new “hard” in the persons of Father 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 events 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.

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

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 with the
attack. The 200-men contingent led by Sergeant Lamadrid
attacked Spanish officers at sight and seized the arsenal.
Izquierdo, upon learning the attack, ordered the
reinforcement of the Spanish forces in Cavite to quell the
revolt. The “revolution” was easily crushed, when the
Manileños who were expected to aid the Caviteños did not
arrive. Leaders of the plot were killed in the resulting
skirmish, while Father Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora were tried
by a court-martial and sentenced to be executed. Others who
were implicated such as Joaquin Pardo-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 at the Marianas Island. Izquierdo
dissolved the native regiments of artillery and ordered the
creation of an artillery force composed exclusively by
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 Event of 1872

Two other primary accounts exist 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.

Primary Source: Excerpt from Pardo de Tavera’s Account of

the Cavite Mutiny

Source: Trinidad Pardo de Tavera. “Filipino Version of the

Cavite Mutiny” in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide,
Documentary Sources of Philippine History, Volume 7 (Manila:
National Book Store, 1990), 274-280.

This uprising among the soldiers in Cavite was used as a

powerful level by the Spanish residents and by the friars.
The Central Government in Madrid had announced its intention
to deprive the friars in these islands of powers of
intervention in 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

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

friars, on the other hand, feared that their power in the

colony would soon be complete a thing of the past.

… Up to that him there had been no intention of secession

from Spain, and the only aspiration of the people was to
secure the material and education advancement of the
country…

According to the account the, the incident was merely a

mutiny by Filipino soldiers and laborers of the Cavite
arsenal to the dissatisfaction arising from the draconian
policies of Izcuierdo, such as the abolition of privileges
and the prohibition of the founding of the school of arts
and traders 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 of 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 matters of civil government and direction
and management of educational institutions. The friars
needed something to justify their continuing dominate in the
country, and the mutiny provided such opportunity.

However, the Central Spanish Government introduced an

educational decree fusing sectarian schools run by the
friars into a school called 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: Excepts from Plauchut’s Account of the

Cavite Mutiny

Source: Edmund Plauchut, “The Cavite Mutiny of 1872 and the

Martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za,” in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide,
Documentary Sources of Philippine History, Volume 7 Manila:
National Book Store, 1990), 251-268.

General La Tore… 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

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

Manila committee. When the two finished work, it was found

that they are to the same conclusion. Here is the summary of
the reforms that considered necessary to introduce:

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 estate, enjoy freedom of worship, and operate
commercial transports flying the Spanish flag.
5. Establish 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
shirt-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 new Governor General ere probably expected as a result
of the bitter disputes between the Filipino clerics and the
friars. Such a policy must really end n a strong desire on
the part of the other to repress cruelly.

In regard to schools, it was previously decried 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 o public roads

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 withers from such old
employees their retirement privileges and declassified them
into the ranks of those who work in public roads.

The friars used the incident as a part of a larger

conspiracy to cement their dominance, which has 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

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 DAVAO CENTRAL COLLEGE,
INC.
Juan dela Cruz Street, Toril, Davao City
Landline No. (082) 291 1882
Accredited by ACSCU-ACI

Cavite Mutiny of 1872 resulted to the martyrdom of GOMBURZA,

and paved the way to the revolution culminating in 1898.

1. History: Pallavi Talekau, Dr. Jyotrimayee Nayak,

Dr.S.Harichan

Reference:

1. Candelaria, J.L. et. al. (2018) Readings in Philippine

History. Rex Book Store. Manila.
2. Jose Montego y Vidal, “Spanish Version of Cavite
Mutiny of 1872,” in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide,
Documentary Source of Philippine History, Volume 7
(Manila: National Book Store, 1990), 269-273.

3. Rafael Izquierdo “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.

4. Trinidad Pardo de Tavera. “Filipino Version of the

Cavite Mutiny” in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide,
Documentary Sources of Philippine History, Volume 7
(Manila: National Book Store, 1990), 274-280.

5. Edmund Plauchut, “The Cavite Mutiny of 1872 and the

Martyrdom of Gom-Bur-Za,” in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia
Zaide, Documentary Sources of Philippine History,
Volume 7 (Manila:National Book Store, 1990), 251-268.