CHAPTER 7 EMERGING NATIONALISM hen Rizal published &/ Filibusterismo in 1891, he dedicated Wis book to the three martyred priests, Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora. In his dedicetion, he wrote: I have the right to dedicate my work to you as victims of the evil which | undertake to conibat. And while we await expectantly upon Spain some day to restore your good name and cease 10 be answerable for your death, let these pages serve as a tardy wreath of dried leaves over your unknown tombs, and let it be understood that every one who without cleor proofs attacks your memory stains his hands in your blood! Although Rizal was only 10 years old when the three P| executed, the events of 1872 would play a decisive role in shaping Rizal's ideas and decisions. This chapter will focus on these events, Particularly the Cavite Mutiny and the execution of the three priests, Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora. PVT coil Pla dah a Atthe end of this chapter, the students should be able to: riests were 4 examine the causes and effects of the Cavite Mutiny; and 4 lain the conflict between the Filipino secular priests and the Panish regular priests.88 THE LIFE AND WORKS OF JOSE RIZAL VOCABULARY nan official pastoral visit conducted by the bisho Pp episcopal vis'tatio the conditions of a congregation; often don le on a diocese to examine once every three years s used for capital punishment in which an iron gorrote — an apparatu ind a condemned person's neck collar is tightened arou! _ system of forced labor that required Filipino males from 16 to 69 polo der service for a period of 40 days years old to ren regular clergy — pries' secular clergy — priests who do engaged in pastoral work tributo — system of taxation imposed by the Spanish colonial government on the Filipinos in order to generate resources for the maintenance of the colony ts who belong to religious orders not belong to religious orders and are —— Cavite Mutiny On January 20, 1872, approximately 250 Filipino soldiers and workers rose in revolt at an arsenal in Cavite. Eleven Spaniards were killed during the mutiny, but an immediate assault led by government forces put an end to the uprising after three days. = Besa reason for the mutiny was a decree released ee fa Rafael de Izquierdo. The decree ordered abe workers would no longer be exempt from the aceon Me ibis a privilege they had enjoyed in the past. Official veut with is pees that the revolt was part of a larget and asserting 7 7 betas spanist ae Offici 4 had ere also claimed that the leaders of the mut!" the support of close to 2,000 men from regimenEMERGING NATIONALISM 89 sed both in Cavite aad in Manila. The plan was to begin the revolt after midnight ig Manila with rebels setting fires in Tondo tc distract tke authorities. A signal by way of fireworks would then be sent tO the rebels in Cavite who would then lay siege to ae arsenal- In reality, however, the mutiny in Cavite began earlier in the evening and many of those who pledged support defected il vowed loyalty to Spain. Ultimately, the mutiny failed and the spanish government used the incident as a means to suppress the increasing calls for a more liberal administration. Among those who clamored for reforms were Filipino secular priests. To understand how the Filipino secular priests became involved in the Cavite Mutiny of 1872, a brief historical background on missionary eftorts in the Philippines shall first be discussed. Secularization Movement The introduction and the strengthening of the Catholic faith were largely through the efforts of two types of clergy: the regular priests and the secular priests. The regular clergy, whose jurisdiction fell on their elected prelates, were better prepared for missionary work because of their standards of discipline and asceticism, Their job, then, was to introduce the faith, convert the natives, and establish religious communities. In the Philippines, five religious orders took on this task: the Augustinians who arrived in 1565, the Discalced Franciscans who arrived in 1578, the Jesuits who arrived in 1581, the Dominicans who arrived in 1587, and the Augustinian Recollects who arrived in 1606. The secular clev; the other hand, were priests who Seer: hority of bishops live in the world.” They were under the autho Rot members of a religious order. Their primary task bees Management of the religious communities and =~ continuation of the work already laid down by the regular By: In other words, while it was the task of the regular clergy the Cler,a £ LIFE AND WORKS OF JOSE RIZAL THE 90 introduce the faith and establish religious com to in MUumities gement of the parishes themselves was left t mana| + th 2 the geaat euler priests. The missionary efforts in the Philippines, however, Presentg a unique case. In other Spanish colonies, well-establisheq Patishe, witnessed the replacement of regular clergy by secular . mA © Priests jg the management of the religious communities. In the Philippine, the regular clergy remained administrators of the Parishes wei) into the nineteenth century. Two issues were particularly contentious among the clergy in the Philippines. The first issue had to do with episcopal visitations. An omnimoda bull passed by Pope Adrian VI in 1522 allowed the regulars to administer the Sacraments and act as parish priests independent from the authority of the local bishop. This bull, however, conflicted with reforms established in the Council of Trent (1545-1563), which declared that no priest could care for the souls of laymen unless they were subjected to episcopal authority that often came in the form of visitatious. Although King Philip II was Branted discretionary power 19 enforce the reforms in the Philippines, the regular clezgy oftes thwarted their implementation, The regular clergy argued that if they allowed the visitations = Haun the congregation would be subjected to two sources of Suihetity a bishop and she provincial superiors, who may; q a Point, issue conflicting orders, By refusing the so rong hoped to avoid the possibility of violating i é enforce . poten to their own superiors. Serious atterP iy mnt Ai visitations, BOW erer avers: often countered eee Posts and pike abused their authority by resigning front Was especially * ba Parishes unattended. This type ail when the Paucity oe im the early stages of Christi ent : f Secular py; he gover™ 10 give in to . T priests often forced t the Wishes of the regular clergy.EMERGING NATIONALISM 9] The second issue had to do with the management of the pies. Regular ries pees control over the parishes in the early, stages of Chris! anization out of necessity because of the yearcitY of secular priests to whom the parishes would be passed on However, beginning in the late seventeenth century, efforts wert intensified to produce and train Filipino secular priests that by the nineteenth century, they constituted an increasingly significant number. Despite this, the regular clergy usually contesced, if not outright vefused, the rights of the secular clergy so the parishes. One reason provided by the regulars was that the Philippines gill remained an active mission, en viva conquista espiritual, wich some groups not yet Christianized. They would, therefore, argue that the Filipinos were not ready to be turned over to the secular clergy. Another reason was more economic in nature with the regulars refusing to give up the parishes that generated large profits for them, However, an overwhelming reason why the regulars retused to give up the parishes had to do with their view that the Filipino secular clergy were unqualified and incompetert. Even worse, some viewed the seculars as potential leaders of any furure separatist movement. these claims. In The secular clergy would react strongly to parish priest of femd-ninereenth century, Fr. Mariano Gomez, v4, and Fr, Pedro Pelaez, secretary to the archbishop, drew “expositions to the government on behalf of the secular clergy, Mt theic efforts proved futile. The struggle eventually toa ens i nt tone towards the 1860s as the issue of gee ie ay my longer limited to questions of merit and ee he % 864, the nature of the issue became one oie bes een tea the forefront of this struggle to gain camel? ew and Filipino priests was Fr. Jose Burgot-Execution of Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora Asa result of the revolt in Cavite, several priests and jay were arrested on the orders of Governor-General l2cuier, Among the priests arrested in the succeeding days were Fz, es Jose Burgos, Jacinto Zamora, Jose Guevara, Mariano Gyn.) Feliciano Gomez, Mariano Sevilla, Bartolome Serra, Mig.) de Laza, Justo Guazon, Vicente del Rosario, Pedro Dandan, and Anacleto Desiderio. Among the laymen were lawye:, and businessmen: Gervacio Sanchez, Pedro Carillo, Max; . Inocencio, Balbino Mauricio, Ramon Maurente, Maxim, Paterno, and Jose Basa. These Filipinos were sentenced to ~arying terms of exile in Guam. The three priests, Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora, on the other hand, were condemned to death Ly garrore on February 15, 1872. A French writer-journalist named Edmund Plauchut gave an account of the execution: Late in the night of the 15* of February 1872, a Spanish court martial found three secular priests, Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora, guilty of treason as the instigators of a mutiny in the Cavite navy-yard a month before, and sentenced them to death. The judgment of the court martial was read to the priests in Fort Santiago early the next murning and they were told it would be executed the following day... Upon hearing the sentence, Burgos broke into sobs, Zamora lost his mind and never recovered, and only Gomez listened srepaseieely, an old man accustomed to the thought of When dawn broke on the 17% of February, there were almost forty thousand of Filipinos (who came from as far aes Cavite and Laguna) surrounding Platforms where the three priests and the testimony had convicted them, a foimel artilleryman called Saldua, would dieEMERGING ERGING NATIONALISM 93 three priests followed Saldua: - ; mild” Zamora with vacant oes alas | geld high, blessing tke Filipinos who knelt at oe ad heads bared and praying. He was next to die nes fees confessor 4 Recollect friar, ex:horted him ee if en is his fate, be replied: “Father, I know that not a leaf ice the ground but by the will of God. Since He wills ate should die here, His holy will be done.” Zamora went up the scaffold without a word and delivered his body to the executioner; his mind had already left it. Bu-gos was the last, a refinement of cruelty that compelled him to watch the death of his companions. He seated himself on the iron rest and then sprang up crying: “But what crime have I committed? Is it possible that I should die like this. My God, is there no justice on earth?” . A dozen friars surrounded him and pressed him down again upon the seat of the garrote, pleading with him to die a Christian death. He obvyed but, feeling his arms ‘ied round the fatal post, protested once again: “But lam innocent!” “So was Jesus Christ,” said one of the friars. At this Burgos resigned himself. The executioner knelt at his feet and asked his forgiveness. “I forgive you. ™y 507 De | your duty.” And it was done. he three priests was meant the opposite effect. In his Mabini stated: le of Burgos and bis to Although the public execution of t wi ‘nstill fear in the Filipinos, it had t ork, La Revolucion Filipina, Apolinario The friars wanted to make an exam ompani ilivit ould be afraid to go anions so that the Filipinos $! SS ental ae “8ainst them from then on. But that p: : fficial crime, aroused nor fear but hatred of the friarsgat THR Lire AND WORKS oF JOSE RIZAL and of the regime that shpboried them, ad on sympathy and sorrow for the victims, This oe worked a miracle: it made the Filipinos realize ie condition for the first time. Conscious of pain, ang ‘i conscious of life, they asked themselves what king oh life they lived. The awakening was painful, and re to stay alive more painful still, but one must live, oy They did not know, and the desire to know, the anxiety to learn, overwhelmed and took possession of the ae of the Philippines. The curtain of ignorance Uae diligently for centuries was rent at last: fiat lux, let there be light, would not be long in corning, the dawn of a new day was nearing. Rizal and Gomburza Read the following excerpt from a letter José Rizal wroet) Mariano Ponce. Answer the questions that follow. Without 1872 there would not be now either a Plaridel, or Jaena, or Sanciangco, or would there exist brave and generous Filipino colonies in Europe; without 1872 Rizal ie nd now and instead of writing Noli = Of those oe 1 have written the opposite. At the sis f epee ore and cruelties, while still a child, ci +0 avenge ene and I swore to devote on in my mind I h Y SO many victims, and with this it all my work ae been studying and this can be re4 : OPhortunisy se writings. God will someday giv? er COMMIt abuse. (7) OMt ™Y Promise. Good! May! B executions Ses, let there be imprisonments, banishmer lay their ca Let Destiny be fulfilled! The 40", families ee m us, the day they martyriz? er Perhaps, Sai ir faults, goodbye, friar gov ernment, Panish government!