Eufemio O. Agbayani III
Historic Sites Development Officer II
As we close the sesquicentennial of the martyrdom of fathers Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomes, and Jacinto Zamora, we remember that the three were not the only ones who suffered because of the Cavite Mutiny of 20 January 1872.
Many were exiled—some ordered to be chained for life, some died far from home, some were pardoned, and some escaped. On 21 February 1872, five were sent to Spain aboard the frigate Chica to serve ten years imprisonment and exile: Crisanto de los Reyes, Maximo Inocencio, Enrique Paraiso, Rafael Calda and Cleto Yance.
On 14 March 1872, twenty-two men were sent to Guam aboard the Flores de Maria. Jose Basa y Enriquez was sentenced to ten years; Antonio Regidor, Balbino Mauricio, Ramon Maurente, Maximo Paterno, Jose Ma. Basa, Jose Ma. Guevara, Agustin Mendoza, Feliciano Gomez, Pedro Dandan, Anacleto Desiderio, and Miguel de Laza were sentenced to eight years; Pedro Carillo, Bartolome Maria Serra, Gervasio Sanchez, Jose Mauricio de Leon, Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Pio Maria Basa, Toribio del Pilar, Justo Guason to six years; and Vicente del Rosario and Mariano Servilla to two years.
Their fates show the webs that entangle the struggle for freedom which we won 26 years after the events of 1872. Below are just some whose likeness survived the ravages of time.
Died Immediately
Sergeant Lamadrid
UST MIGUEL DE BENAVIDES LIBRARY
Sergeant Lamadrid led the revolt and was joined by two Spanish lieutenants Manuel Montesinos and Vicente López Morquecho. He could be one of 41 soldiers who died during the retaking of Fort San Felipe on 22 January 1872. Thirteen were later executed on 27 January, nine in Manila and four in Cavite. The rest of the soldiers arrested by the Spaniards numbering around 58 were sentenced to imprisonment for ten years.
Executed by Garrote
Francisco Zaldua
NHCP DIOSDADO CAPINO COLLECTION
Of the four executed on 17 February, he was most complicit in the mutiny. Pressured to implicate the priests Burgos, Gomes, and Zamora, he thought he would be pardoned but he was executed before them.
Exiled to Cartagena, Spain
Crisanto de los Reyes
GERONIMO BERENGUER DE LOS REYES JR. FOUNDATION
There are now growing historical consensus that the mutiny in Cavite was spearheaded by three citizens. One of them was Crisanto de los Reyes, a wealthy ship chandler who had many opportunities to contact the Filipinos in the Cavite arsenal. He was able to escape in 1874 and return to the Philippines in 1879. He died on 4 July 1895.
Maximo Inocencio
ROSE POLICARPIO VIA WIKICOMMONS
A colleague of De los Reyes, Inocencio was a wealthy construction contractor at the time of the mutiny. He later escaped with the help of de los Reyes and won a pardon that allowed both to return to the Philippines. He was among the Thirteen Martyrs of Cavite executed on 12 September 1896. Even after death, Inocencio would be able to contribute to the struggle for freedom as his home was used by Emilio Aguinaldo as headquarters upon returning from Hong Kong in May 1898.
Enrique Paraiso
UP OPEN ACCESS REPOSITORY
Paraiso was a retired government employee who at one point, served as a customs officer for Tayabas. His liberal inclinations had earlier been apparent, as he was noted to have helped raise funds to provide for Spanish republicans exiled to the Philippines. He was also said to have distributed copies of the newspaper El Eco Filipino. He was able to escape imprisonment around 1874 and was even named by rebels as quartermaster. This allowed de los Reyes and Inocencio to be freed. He settled in Marseilles, France where he died.
Exiled to Guam
Pedro Dandan
PARAÑAQUE CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY
Arrested after the execution of the GOMBURZA, Dandan was exiled to Guam on 14 March 1872. He was able to return and was even appointed to a prominent position in the Manila Cathedral. He eventually joined the Revolution and died in the revolutionaries’ camp in 1897.
Jose Ma. Guevara
UST MIGUEL DE BENAVIDES LIBRARY
Guevara was parish curate of Quiapo when the Cavite Mutiny broke out in 1872. Little is known about what happened to him since his exile to Guam, or whether he survived his incarceration.
Mariano Sevilla
UST MIGUEL DE BENAVIDES LIBRARY
Sevilla was active in the secularization movement and had been serving as chaplain to the Beaterio de Santa Rosa when he was arrested. He was exiled for five years. In 1879, he founded a college and in 1881, was appointed chaplain of the military hospital. Owing to his intellect, he was named professor in the Universidad Literaria de Filipinas in Malolos. He coordinated with Felipe Calderon, promoting the Church’s interest as the Constitution was being written in Malolos. He also fiercely opposed the separation of church and state which was eventually passed. Best known for pioneering the tradition of Flores de Mayo, Sevilla died on 23 November 1923.
Joaquin Pardo de Tavera
UST MIGUEL DE BENAVIDES LIBRARY
Joaquin Pardo de Tavera came from a prominent noble family in Spain. Born in Cavite, he became a famous lawyer and was appointed to the colony’s Council of Administration. However, his open-mindedness towards liberal ideas made him a target of the reactionaries. He was joined in exile by his wife Gertrudis “Tula” de Gorricho. After being pardoned in 1872, he moved to Paris, France along with his family. He died there in 1883.
Jose Ma. Basa
NHCP DIOSDADO CAPINO COLLECTION
Jose Ma. Basa came from an affluent family and at an early age, he managed his family’s distillery. He was exiled to Guam aboard the Flores de Maria on 14 March 1872. After a general pardon was released on 28 November 1874, he moved to Hong Kong. His home became a refuge for Filipinos escaping persecution at home–among them is Jose Rizal. On 29 January 1897, he later wrote an open letter with Doroteo Cortes and A.G. Medina encouraging the United States to annex the Philippines. He died in Hong Kong on 10 July 1907.
Antonio Ma. Regidor
NHCP
A prominent lawyer, he had been appointed to various government positions since he returned in 1868 from studying in Spain. Because of his support for liberal-leaning Governor General Carlos Ma. de la Torre, he was linked to the mutiny. He was among those exiled to Guam on 14 March 1872. Not long after arrival, he made a daring escape with the help of fellow masons. He received a pardon on 11 April 1876 and chose to stay in London, from where he supported the Propaganda Movement. He even received Jose Rizal during his stay in London. He was appointed to serve as diplomatic representative of the revolutionary government of the Philippines in 1898. He returned to the Philippines on 22 August 1907 but died in Nice, France on 28 December 1910.
Maximo Molo Agustin Paterno
FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
A wealthy businessman from Quiapo, Manila, Paterno once served as the gobernadorcillo for the said arrabal who became associated with the liberals of Manila. His brother, Tomas, was a colleague of Burgos at the Manila Cathedral. He was among those exiled on 14 March 1872 and was exiled for four years. Upon his return to the Philippines in 1877, he resumed his business interests until his death on 26 July 1900. His son, Pedro Alejandro, figured prominently during the turn of the century for mediating between revolutionary forces and the Spanish government which resulted in the Pact of Biak-na-Bato in 1897. Pedro also participated in the Malolos Congress of 1898 and served as prime minister to Emilio Aguinaldo from May 1899 until his capture by the Americans in April 1900.
References:
Boncan, Celestina P. Remembering the Cavite Mutiny of 1872. General Trias, Cavite: Geronimo Berenguer de los Reyes Jr. Foundation, Inc., 1995.
Corpuz, Onofre D., ed. and trans. Artigas, Manuel. The Events of 1872: A Historico-Bio-Bibliographical Account. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1996.
Filipinos in History vol. 1. Manila: National Historical Institute, 1990.
Gwekoh, Sol H. Burgos, Gomes, Zamora: Secular Martyrs of Filipinism. Manila: National Bookstore, 1972.
“Jose Ma. Basa.” In Virgilio Almario, ed., Sagisag Kultura vol. 1. Manila: National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 2015. Retrieved from https://philippineculturaleducation.com.ph/basa-jose-ma/.
Misa, Arturo Ma. “The man who betrayed the triumvirate.” Mirror, 17 February 1968.
Paterno, Jean Marie Yap and Paterno, Miguel Roces. By Their Deeds: The Paternos of the Spanish Era vol 1. Quezon City: Reyes Publishing, 2019.
Pineda, Juliana C. Burgos, Gomez and Zamora: Martyr Priests of 1872. Manila: R. Martinez and Sons, 1972.
Schumacher, John N. Revolutionary Clergy: The Filipino Clergy and the Nationalist Movement, 1850–1903. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1981.
Schumacher, John N. “The Cavite Mutiny: Toward a Definitive History.” Philippine Studies 59(1), March 2011.
Issues of Renacimiento Filipino retrieved from the online libraries of the Filipinas Heritage Library, University of the Philippine Open Access Repository, and the University of Santo Tomas Miguel de Benavides Library: 28 February 1911, 7 April 1911, 14 April 1911, 21 April 1911, 21 May 1911, 28 May 1911, 7 June 1911, 28 September 1911, 14 March 1913