I.

Historical Context
Some months before the year 1871 the Governor General, Maria de la Torre, was replaced by Rafael
de Izquierdo, who was opposed to any reformist and nationalistic movements in the Philippines and was
the cause of the barbaric execution held in the year 1872 of the three (3) martyr priests who were blamed
for the mutiny: Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora who were more commonly
known as “Gomburza”. Simultaneously, the new Spanish Governor General also introduced new reforms
such as the tax for Filipinos who serve in the Army, this requires them to pay tax in exchange for their
service and force them into labor.
By January 1872, the Philippine soldiers were furious when they received their pay with the new tax
applied to it. This led to an attack at Fort San Filipe (which was the Spanish Arsenal in Cavite Province in
the Philippines) where 200 Philippine Soldiers began to take over the fort resulting to killing eleven
Spanish soldiers in the process. Once the news broke out of the uprising in Cavite, the Spanish army
quickly acted by sending an entire regiment to Cavite led by General Felipe Ginovés. The Spaniards then
began to capture the mutineers and regain control over the Fort.
After regaining control over the Fort, General Felipe Ginovés ordered that all mutineers to be
executed and to be lined up. Upon asking who would not pledge alliance to Spain, one man stepped
forward but was then shot and killed on the spot. For this reason, no one else step forward. Afterwards,
the rest of the mutineers were imprisoned and later exiled into the Philippine island of Mindanao. By late
January, the Philippine Governor had already sentenced 41 mutineers to death and 11 more added the
week later though the latter order turned into life imprisonment.
Later in February, the Spaniards continued the pursuit of capturing anyone who were involved in
aiding the Philippine soldiers in the uprising. It was said that the Cavite Mutineers got their cue from
Manila in the form of fireworks across Manila Bay during the celebration of the feat of the Lady of
Loreto in Sampaloc. Izquierdo, for this reason, used the mutiny to implicate Gomburza and other notable
Filipinos known for their liberal learnings. Prominent Filipinos such as priests, professionals, and
businessmen were arrested on flimsy and trumped-up charges and sentenced to prison, death, or exile.
Consequently, this led to the execution of the three local priests who were said to be a part of this
assimilation. The priests were charged with treason of instigating the Cavite Mutiny and were put to death
by garotte in Bagumbayan, later known as Luneta. (Garrote was a barbaric Spanish method of execution
in which an iron collar was tightened around the prisoner’s neck until death occurred.)
As a result, Filipinos were banned to serve as a priest until the Philippines independence from Spain
in the year 1898.

II. Controversy
 Spanish Perspective
 Jose Montero y Vidal, a Spanish Historian, saw the mutiny as an attempt of the
Indios to overthrow the Spanish Government in the Philippines
 They deemed that the event was planned earlier and was thought to be a
conspiracy among educated leaders, mestizos, abogallidos or native lawyers,
residents of Manila and Cavite, and the native clergy.
 Gov. Gen, Rafael Izquierido made use of this uprising to implicate the native
clergy, which was then active in the call for secularization.
 Additionally, the Spaniards came to believe that the scheme was true without any
attempt to investigate the real facts or extent of the alleged “revolution” reported
by Izquiredo and the Friars.
 On February 17, 1872, the GOMBURZA were executed to instill fear among the
Filipinos so that they may never commit such daring act again.
  Philippines Perspective
 The Filipinos saw the mutiny by the native Filipino soldiers and laborers of the
Cavite Arsenal as an effect of the dissatisfaction of Filipinos with the abolitions
of their privileges.
 In Dr. Trinidad Hermenigildo Pardo de Tavera's point of view, the incident was a
mere mutiny by the native Filipino soldiers and laborers.
 The friars, fearing that their influence would be a thing of the past, took
advantage of the incident and presented it to the Spanish gov't as a vast
conspiracy with the objective of destroying Spanish sovereignty.
 Convicted educated men who participated in the mutiny were sentenced life
imprisonment while members of the native clergy headed by the GOMBURZA
were executed by garrote.
 This led to the awakening of nationalism and eventually to the outbreak of
Filipinos because they believed that it was not a big conspiracy and only
responded to what they deemed as injustice.
III. Stand of the Group
Our group stands for the “Pro” side of the Cavite Mutiny events that happened since it shows how our
fellow Filipinos fought for their own rights or privileges against the Spaniard’s resistance against the
mutiny. For example, upon learning that the new Governor General (Rafael de Izquierdo) implemented
new reforms such as the Tax increase for Filipino soldiers, which was unfair on our part, the Filipino
soldiers acted quickly by taking over the Fort despite the consequences. Furthermore, the result of the
Cavite Mutiny inspired many Filipinos especially someone like Rizal, who dedicated his second book, El
Filibusterismo published in the year 1981, to the victims of the event which stated: “I dedicate my work
to you as victims of the evil which I undertake to combat…”.

References
Koh, E. (n.d.). The 1872 Cavite Mutiny. Retrieved from Filipino Journal: http://filipinojournal.com/the-
1872-cavite-mutiny/
Lejos, K. (2014, August 10). Cavite Mutiny. Retrieved from Prezi: https://prezi.com/rmsirgijp0m3/cavite-
mutiny/
N/A. (2016, May 7). The Cavite Mutiny. Retrieved from History Uncaged:
http://www.historyuncaged.com/asian/cavite
Pedad-Pugay, C. A. (2012, September 5). The Two Faces of the 1872 Cavite Mutiny. Retrieved from
National Historical Commission of the Philippines: http://nhcp.gov.ph/the-two-faces-of-the-1872-
cavite-mutiny/