The Cavite mutiny (Spanish: Motín de Cavite; Filipino: Pag-aaklas sa Kabite) was an uprising of Filipino military personnel of Fort
San Felipe, the Spanish arsenal in Cavite, Philippine Islands (then also known as part of the Spanish East Indies) on January 20,
1872. Around 200 locally recruited colonial troops and laborers rose up in the belief that it would elevate to a national uprising.
The mutiny was unsuccessful, and government soldiers executed many of the participants and began to crack down on a
burgeoning Philippines nationalist movement. Many scholars believed that the Cavite mutiny was the beginning of Filipino
nationalism that would eventually lead to the Philippine Revolution.
Causes of the Cavite mutiny: The causes of the Cavite Mutiny can be identified through examining the different accounts in this
historic event.
Spanish accounts of the mutiny
José Montero y Vidal was a Spanish historian who interpreted that the mutiny was an attempt to remove and overthrow the
Spanish colonizers in the Philippines. His account, corroborated with the account of Governor-General Rafael Izquierdo, the
governor-general of the Philippines at the time of the mutiny. Both mentioned that the mutiny was powered by a group of
native clergy.
Account of Jose Montero y Vidal
The Cavite Mutiny was an aim of the natives to get off the Spanish government in the Philippines, due to the removal of
privileges enjoyed by the laborers of the Cavite arsenal at Fort San Felipe, such as exemption from the tribute and forced labor
(polo y servicio).
Account of Governor-General Izquierdo
Governor-General Izquierdo insisted that the mutiny was stimulated and prepared by the native clergy, mestizos and lawyers as
a signal of objection against the injustices of the government.
Other accounts of the mutiny:
Account of Trinidad Pardo de Tavera
The event was just a simple mutiny since up to that time the Filipinos have no intention of separation from Spain but only
secure materials and education advancements in the country. However, the mutiny was used at a powerful level. Also, in this
time, the central government deprived friars of the powers of involvement in civil government and in governing and handling
universities.
Account of Edmund Plauchut
Plauchut traced the immediate cause to a peremptory order from the Governor-General Izquierdo, exacting personal taxes
from the Filipino laborers in the engineering and artillery corps in the Cavite arsenal, and requiring them to perform forced
labor like ordinary subjects. Until then, these workers in the arsenal had been enjoying exemptions from both taxes and forced
labor. January 20, the day of the revolt, was payday and the laborers found the amount of taxes as well as the corresponding
fee in lieu of the forced labor deducted from their pay envelopes. It was the last straw. That night they mutinied. Forty infantry
soldiers and twenty men from the artillery took over command of Fort of San Felipe and fired carronades to announce their
moment of triumph. It was a short-lived victory. Apparently, the mutineers had expected to be joined by their comrades in the
7th infantry company assigned to patrol the Cavite plaza. They became terror-stricken, however, when they beckoned to the
7th infantry men from the ramparts of the fort and their comrades did not make any move to join them. Instead, the company
started attacking them. The rebels decided to bolt the gates and wait for morning when support from Manila was expected to
come.
In addition, accounts of the mutiny suggest that the Glorious Revolution in Spain during that time added more determination to
the natives to overthrow the current colonial Spanish government.
Their leader was Fernando La Madrid, a mestizo sergeant with his second in command Jaerel Brent Senior, a moreno. They
seized Fort San Felipe and killed eleven Spanish officers. The mutineers thought that Filipino native soldiers in Manila would join
them in a concerted uprising, the signal being the firing of rockets from the city walls on that night. Unfortunately, what they
thought to be the signal was actually a burst of fireworks in celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, the patron of
Sampaloc. The plan was to set fires in Tondo in order to distract the authorities while the artillery regiment and infantry in
Manila could take control of Fort Santiago and use cannon shots as signals to Cavite. All Spaniards were to be killed, except for
the women. News of the mutiny reached Manila, supposedly through the lover of a Spanish sergeant, who then informed his
superiors, and the Spanish authorities feared for a massive Filipino uprising. The next day, a regiment led by General Felipe
Ginovés besieged the fort until the mutineers surrendered. Ginovés then ordered his troops to fire at those who surrendered,
including La Madrid. The rebels were formed in a line, when Colonel Sabas asked who would not cry out, "Viva España", and
shot the one man who stepped forward. The rest were imprisoned.
Aftermath
In the immediate aftermath, 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 Gomez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, collectively
known as Gomburza. They were executed by garrote in Luneta, also known in Tagalog as Bagumbayan, on February 17, 1872.
These executions, particularly those of the Gomburza, 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 Izquierdo approved the death sentences on 41 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 Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Antonio M. Regidor y Jurado, Pio
Basa, 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.
Finally, a decree was made, stating there were to be no further ordinations/appointments of Filipinos as Catholic parish priests.
In spite of the mutiny, the Spanish authorities continued to employ large numbers of native Filipino troops, carabineros and civil
guards in their colonial forces through the 1870s–1890s until the Spanish–American War of 1898.
Execution of Gomburza
On February 15, 1872, the Spanish colonial authorities charged the Fathers Burgos, Gomez and Zamora with treason and
sedition, and subversion; and were sentenced to death by garrote at Bagumbayan, Philippines. They were executed two days
after their verdict. The charge against the three was their alleged complicity in the uprising of workers at the Cavite Naval Yard.
It was believed by Governor-General Izquierdo that the Filipinos will create its own government and allegedly, the three priests
were nominated as the leader of the planned government in order to break free of the Spanish government.
The death of Gomburza awakened strong spirits of anger and resentment among the Filipinos. They grilled Spanish authorities
and demanded reforms due to the prejudicial governance of the authorities. The martyrdom of the three priests, ironically,
assisted in the creation of the Propaganda Movement which aimed to seek reforms and inform the Spanish people on the
abuses of its colonial authorities in the Philippine Islands.
Furthermore, there were people being sentenced by the military court of Spain to exile them to the Marianas (now Guam): Fr.
Pedro Dandan, Fr. Mariano Sevilla, Toribio H. del Pilar (brother of Marcelo H. del Pilar), Agustin Mendoza, José Guevara, Miguel
Lasa, Justo Guazon, Fr. Aniceto Desiderio, Fr. Vicente del Rosario, Joaquín Pardo de Tavera, Antonio Ma. Regidor, José Basa y
Enriquez, Mauricio de Leon, Pedro Carillo, Gervasio Sanchez, José Ma. Basa, Pío Basa, Balvino Mauricio, Maximo Paterno (father
of Pedro Paterno) and Valentín Tosca.
The three priests were judged guilty of treason as the leaders of the mutiny by the Spanish court on the evening of February 15,
1872. Early the next morning, the verdict was announced at Fort Santiago.
An estimated 40 000 Filipinos gathered around the execution platforms on February 17, 1872. Father Burgos accepted his fate,
Father Zamora had vacant eyes, and Father Gomez was holding his head high during the execution. Along with them, Saldua, an
artilleryman, was put to death.
Public outrage over their executions eventually gave rise to the Propaganda Movement, a late 19th-century political reform
movement in the Philippines that aimed to address issues including representation in the Spanish Cortes and the secularization
of the clergy. In the Spanish colonial government, the movement aimed to promote more autonomy and representation for
Filipinos.
