The Two Faces of The 1872 Cavite Mutiny by Chris Antonette Piedad-Pugay
The Two Faces of The 1872 Cavite Mutiny by Chris Antonette Piedad-Pugay
The Two Faces of The 1872 Cavite Mutiny by Chris Antonette Piedad-Pugay
By Nati nuguid
Jose Rizal dedicated his novel, "El Filibusterismo" to the three priests, Mariano Gomez, 85 years, Jose
Burgos, 30, and Jacinto Zamora, 35, executed at Bagumbayan Field on February 17, 1872.History books
state that with this tragic event, Philippine nationalism was born. The assumption is that, before this
date, the people did not feel they were one nation, and any sign of protest against the foreign presence
that was Spain was a localized act of rebellion to which the rest of the country did not relate
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.
Jose Burgos, but actually written in the twentieth century.'Likewise in preparation for the
centenary of the martyrdom of Fathers Burgos, Gbmez, and Zamora, various scholars
have published documentation concerning Father Burgos in particular, and in my recent
book I have edited and translated some genuine works of Burgos in part hitherto unkno~
n.~ The fact remains, however, that we still possess no definitive account of the Cavite
Mutiny, nor a satisfactory biography of any of the three priests. Not only are primary source
materials still lacking however, but there is considerable confusion as to the worth of the
various published accounts of the events of 1872 both as to primary and to secondary
sources. It will therefore be the pur-