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Cavite Mutiny, (Jan. 20, 1872), brief uprising

of 200 Filipino troops and workers at the
Cavite arsenal, which became the excuse for
Spanish repression of the embryonic
Philippine nationalist movement. Ironically,
the harsh reaction of the Spanish authorities
served ultimately to promote the nationalist
cause.
The mutiny was quickly crushed, but
the Spanish regime under the
reactionary governor Rafael de
Izquierdo magnified the incident and
used it as an excuse to clamp down
on those Filipinos who had been
calling for governmental reform.
A number of Filipino intellectuals were
seized and accused of complicity with the
mutineers. After a brief trial, three
priests—José Burgos, Jacinto Zamora, and
Mariano Gómez—were publicly
executed. The three subsequently
became martyrs to the cause of
Philippine independence.
The primary cause of the mutiny is believed
to be an order from Governor-General Rafael
de Izquierdo to subject the soldiers of the
Engineering and Artillery Corps to personal
taxes, from which they were previously
exempt.
The taxes required them to pay a monetary
sum as well as to perform forced labor
called, polo y servicio. The mutiny was
sparked on January 20, when the laborers
received their pay and realized the taxes as
well as the falla, the fine one paid to be
exempt from forced labor, had been
deducted from their salaries.
The 1872 Cavite Mutiny. One hundred
and forty years ago, on January 20, 1872,
about 200 Filipino military personnel of
Fort San Felipe Arsenal in Cavite,
Philippines, staged a mutiny which in a
way led to the Philippine Revolution in
1896.
 In the immediate aftermath of the mutiny, some
Filipino soldiers were disarmed and later sent into
exile on the southern island of Mindanao. Those
suspected of directly supporting the mutineers
were arrested and executed. The mutiny was used
by the colonial government and Spanish friars to
implicate three secular priests, Mariano
Gómez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora,
collectively known as Gomburza.
 They were executed by garrote on
the Luneta field, also known in
the Tagalog language as Bagumbayan, on 17th
February 1872. These executions, particularly
those of the Gomburz, were to have a significant
effect on people because of the shadowy nature of
the trials. José Rizal, whose brother Paciano was a
close friend of Burgos, dedicated his work, El
filibusterismo, to these three priests.
 On January 27, 1872, Governor-General Rafael
Izquierdo approved the death sentences on forty-
one of the mutineers. On February 6, eleven more
were sentenced to death, but these were later
commuted to life imprisonment. Others were
exiled to other islands of the colonial Spanish East
Indies such as Guam, Mariana Islands, including
the father of Pedro Paterno, Maximo Paterno,
Antonio M. Regidor y Jurado, and José María Basa.
The most important group created a
colony of Filipino expatriates in Europe,
particularly in the Spanish capital
of Madrid and Barcelona, where they
were able to create small insurgent
associations and print publications that
were to advance the claims of the
seeding Philippine Revolution.
 The most important group created a colony of Filipino expatriates in Europe,
particularly in the Spanish capital of Madrid and Barcelona, where they were able
to create small insurgent associations and print publications that were to advance
the claims of the seeding Philippine Revolution.