Cavite Mutiny
Cavite Mutiny
Cavite Mutiny
ACCOUNT OF
GOVERNOR-GENERAL RAFAEL
IZQUIERDO Y GUTIÉRREZ
He insisted that the mutiny is stimulated and prepared by the native
clergy, mestizos and lawyers as a signal of objection against the
injustices of the government such as not paying provinces for tobacco
crops, pay tribute and rendering of 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.
• Forty infantry soldiers and twenty men from the artillery took
over command of the Fort of San Felipe and fired cannonades to
announce to the world their moment of triumph.
• They had expected to be joined by their comrades in the 7th
infantry company assigned to patrol the Cavite plaza. 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.
• He gave a dispassionate account of it and its causes in an article
published in the Revue des Deux Mondes in 1877.
• He traced that the primary cause of the mutiny is believed to "be
an order from Governor-General Carlos 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, 1872 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.
Different accounts in the Cavite mutiny also
highlighted other probable causes of the
"revolution"
• Spanish Revolution which overthrew the secular throne, dirty
propagandas proliferated by unrestrained press, democratic,
liberal and republican books and pamphlets reaching the
Philippines,
• most importantly, the presence of the native clergy who out of
animosity against the Spanish friars, "conspired and supported" the
rebels and enemies of Spain.
• In addition, accounts of the mutiny suggest that the Spanish
Revolution in Spain during that time added more determination to
the natives to overthrow the current colonial Spanish government.
UNRAVELING THE TRUTH
2. As a 21st century learner, what is your stand in this 1872 Cavite mutiny?
correlate this issue with the contemporary times.