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1872 Cavite mutiny

The Cavite mutiny of 1872 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 23, 1872. Around 200 locally recruited colonial troopsand
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 Philippinesnationalist movement. Many scholars believe that
the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 was the beginning of Filipino nationalism that would eventually
lead to the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

Causes
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.

Battle
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 fellow Filipino indigenous soldiers in Manilawould 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 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 Gomburza, were to have a significant effect on
people because of the shadowy nature of the trials. José Rizal, whose brother Pacianowas 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 Indiessuch 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.
Finally, a decree was made, stating there were to be no further ordinations /appointments of
Filipinos as Roman Catholic parish priests. In spite of the mutiny, the Spanish authorities
continued to employ large numbers of native Filipino troops, carabinerosand ((civil guards in
their colonial forces through the 1870s–1890s until the Spanish–American War of 1898.

Back story
During the short trial, the captured mutineers testified against José Burgos. The state
witness, Francisco Saldua, declared that he had been told by one of the Basa brothers that
the government of Father Burgos would bring a navy fleet of the United States to assist a
revolution with which Ramón Maurente, the supposed field marshal, was financing with
50,000 pesos. The heads of the friar orders held a conference and decided to dispose Burgos
by implicating him to a plot. One Franciscan friar disguised as Burgos and suggested a
mutiny to the mutineers. The senior friars used an una fuerte suma de dinero or a banquet
to convince Governor-General Rafael de Izquierdo that Burgos was the mastermind of the
coup. Gómez and Zamora were close associates of Burgos, so they too were included in the
al

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