Document 301

Spanish Version of the Cavite

The Spanish version of the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 was written by the Spanish historian, Jose Montero y
Vidal, in his book entitled Historia General de Filipinas (Madrid, 1895, Vol. 111, pp. 566-595.) This narrative
of Montero y Vidal,1 normally a good historian, was so woefully biased that Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera
commented that he, "in narrating the Cavite episode, does not speak as a historian; he speaks as a
Spaniard bent on perverting the facts at his pleasure; he is mischievously partial."2 Unsupported by positive
documentary evidence, this Spanish historian exaggerated the mutiny of a few disgruntled native soldiers
and laborers into a revolt to overthrow Spanish rule – a seditious movement – and involved the innocent
Filipino patriotic leaders including Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora, Jose Ma. Basa, Antonio Ma.
Regidor, Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, and others. Montero y Vidal’s version of the Cavite episode of 1872 in
English translation follows:*

With the establishment in Spain of a government less radical than the one that appointed La Torre, the latter was
relieved from his post. His successor D. Rafael de Izquierdo, assumed control of the government of these islands April
4, 1871. The most eventful episode in his rule was the Cavite revolt of 1872.

-----------------------------------
1 Montero y Vidal despite his bias against the Filipino people and the Jesuits, was one of the most knowledgeable of the Spanish historians
on the Philippines. At the time of the Cavite Mutiny of 1872, he was a government official residing in Manila. Three of his major historical works
are good references on Philippine history, namely: El Archipelogo Filipino y las islas Marianas, Carolinas y Palaos: Su historia, geografia y
stadistica, Madrid, 1886; Historia general de Filipinas desde el descubrimiento de dichos islas hasta nuestros dias, Madrid, 1877-1895, 3 vols;
and Historia de la pirateria Malayo mahometena en Mindanao, Jolo y Borneo, Madrid, 1888, 2 vols.
2 See Biblioteca Filipina (Washington, D.C., 1903), p. 271. The noted American historian, James A. LeRoy also noticed Montero y Vidal’s
bias. He said: "The usually sober and colorless Montero y Vidal becomes very rabid in his recital of the Cavite episode in the Philippine History
and is very positive not only in denouncing the priests who were executed and the deportees as guilty, but in proclaiming their movement as actually
separatist in character. He ridicules at length the account of the Frenchman Plauchut (see Document 300). But Plauchut as well as Montero y Vidal
himself, was a resident in or near Manila at the time of the occurrences.
* Nicolas Zafra, Readings in Philippine History (Manila: University of the Philippines, 1947, (mimeographed edition), pp. 461-465.

♦♦♦
The abolition of the privileges enjoyed by the laborers of the Cavite arsenal of exemption from the tribute was,
according to some, the cause of the insurrection. There were, however, other causes.

The Spanish revolution which overthrew a secular throne; the propaganda carried on by an unbridled press against
monarchical principles, attentatory of the most sacred respects towards the dethroned majesty; the democratic and
republican books and pamphlets; the speeches and preachings of the apostles of these new ideas in Spain; the outbursts
of the American publicists and the criminal policy of the senseless Governor whom the Revolutionary government
sent to govern the Philippines, and who put into practice these ideas were the determining circumstances which gave
rise, among certain Filipinos, to the idea of attaining their independence. It was towards this goal that they started to
work, with the powerful assistance of a certain section of the native clergy, who out of spite toward the friars, made
common cause with the enemies of the mother country.

At various times but especially in the beginning of the year 1872, the authorities received anonymous communications
with the information that a great uprising would break out against the Spaniards, the minute the fleet at Cavite left for
the South, and that all would be assassinated, including the friars. But nobody gave importance to these notices. The
conspiracy had been going on since the days of La Torre with utmost secrecy. At times, the principal leaders met
either in the house of the Filipino Spaniard, D. Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, or in that of the native priest, Jacinto Zamora,
and these meetings were usually attended by the curate of Bacoor (Cavite), the soul of the movement, whose energetic
character and immense wealth enabled him to exercise a strong influence.

The garrison of Manila, composed mostly of native soldiers, were involved in this conspiracy, as well as a multitude
of civilians. The plan was for the soldiers to assassinate their officers, the servants, their masters, and the escort of the
Captain-General at Malacañang, to
 ♦♦♦
dispose of the governor himself. The friars and other Spaniards were later to have their turn. The preconcerted signal
among the conspirators of Cavite and Manila was the firing of rockets from the walls of the city. The details having
been arranged, it was agreed that the uprising was to break out in the evening of the 20th of January, 1872. Various
circumstances, however, which might well be considered as providential, upset the plans, and made the conspiracy a
dismal failure.

In the district of Sampaloc, the fiesta of the patron saint, the Virgin of Loreto, was being celebrated with pomp and
splendor. On the night of the 20th, fireworks were displayed and rockets fired into the air. Those in Cavite mistook
these for the signal to revolt, and at nine-thirty in the evening of that day two hundred native soldiers under the
leadership of Sergeant La Madrid rose up in arms, assassinated the commander of the fort and wounded his wife.

The military governor of Cavite, D. Fernando Rojas, despatched two Spaniards to inform the Manila authorities of the
uprising but they were met on the way by a group of natives, belonging to the Guias established by La Torre, who put
them instantly to death. At about the same time, an employee of the arsenal, D. Domingo Mijares, left Cavite in a war
vessel for Manila, arriving there at midnight. He informed the commandant of Marine of what had occurred, and this
official immediately relayed the news to Governor Izquierdo.

Early the next morning two regiments, under the command of D. Felipe Ginoves, segundo cabo, left for Cavite on
board the merchant vessels Filipino, Manila, Isabela I and Isabela II. Ginoves demanded rendition and waited the
whole day of the 21st for the rebels to surrender, without ordering the assault of their position in order to avoid
unnecessary shedding of blood. After waiting the whole day in vain for the rendition of the rebels, Ginoves launched
an assault against the latter's position, early in the morning of the 22nd, putting to the sword the majority of the rebels
and making prisoners of
♦♦♦
the rest. On the same day an official proclamation announced the suppression of the revolt.

As a result of the declarations made by some of the prisoners in which several individuals were pointed out as
instigators, Don Jose Burgos and D. Jacinto Zamora, curates of the Cathedral, D. Mariano Gomez, curate of Bacoor
(Cavite), several other Filipino priests, D. Antonio Maria Regidor, lawyer and Regidor of the Ayuntamiento, D.
Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Consejero de Administracion, Pedro Carillo, Gervasio Sanchez and Jose Mauricio de Leon,
lawyer Enrique Paraiso and Jose and Pio Basa, employees, and Crisanto Reyes, Maximo Paterno and several other
Filipinos, were arrested.

The council of war, which from the beginning took charge of the causes in connection with the Cavite uprising, passed
the sentence of death on forty-one of the rebels. On the 27th of January the Captain-General fixed his "cumplase" on
the sentence. On the 6th of the following month, eleven more were sentenced to death, but the Governor General, by
decree of the day following, commuted this sentence to life imprisonment. On the 8th, the sentence of death was
pronounced on Camerino and ten years imprisonment of eleven individuals of the famous "Guias de la Torre," for the
assassination of the Spaniards who, on the night of January 20th, were sent to Manila to carry news of the uprising.

The same council on the 15th of February, sentenced to die by strangulation the Filipino priests, D. Jose Burgos, D.
Jacinto Zamora and D. Mariano Gomez, and Francisco Saldua; and Maximo Inocencio, Enrique Paraiso and Crisanto
de los Reyes to ten years imprisonment. Early in the morning of the seventeenth of February, an immense multitude
appeared on the field of Bagumbayan to witness the execution of the sentence. The attending force was composed of
Filipino troops, and the batteries of the fort were aimed at the place of execution, ready to fire upon the least sign of
uprising. Gomez was executed first, then Zamora, then Burgos, and lastly, Saldua.

On the 3rd of April, 1872, the Audiencia suspended from the practice of law the following men: D. Jose Basa y
Enriquez, D. Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, D. Antonio Ma. Regidor, D. Pedro Carillo, D. Gervasio Sanchez and D. Jose
Mauricio de Leon.

Izquierdo had requested the sending to Manila of Spanish troops for the defense of the fort as most of these found here
were natives. In pursuance of Izquierdo's request, the government, by decree of April 4, 1872, dissolved the native
regiment of artillery and ordered the creation of an artillery force to be composed exclusively of Peninsulares. The
latter arrived in Manila in July, 1872. On the occasion of the arrival of the troops, the Sto. Domingo Church celebrated
a special mass at which high officials of the Government, the religious corporations, and the general public, attended,
upon invitation by the Governor and Captain-General of the Philippines.
♦♦♦
Document 302
Filipino Version of the Cavite Mutiny of
1872
By Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera

The Filipino version of the bloody incident of Cavite in 1872 was written by Dr. Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera,
Filipino scholar, scientist, and historical researcher.1 According to him, this incident was merely a mutiny
by the native Filipino soldiers and laborers of the Cavite arsenal against the harsh policy of despotic
Governor and Captain-General Rafael de Izquierdo (1871-1873) which abolished their old-time privileges
of exemption from paying the annual tribute and from rendering the polo (forced labor). The loss of these
privileges was naturally resented by the soldiers and laborers. Some of them, impelled by volcanic wrath,
rose in arms on the night of January 20, 1872, and killed the commanding officer of the Cavite arsenal and
other Spanish officers. This was easily suppressed by the Spanish troops which were rushed from Manila.
This turbulent Cavite incident, which was magnified by the Spanish officials and friars into a revolt for
Philippine independence, is narrated by Pardo de Tavera, as follows:*

The arrival of General Izquierdo (1871-1873) was the signal for a complete change in the aspect of affairs. The new
governor soon made it clear that his views were different from those of La Torre – that there would be no change in
the established form of government – and he at once announced that he intended to govern the people "with a crucifix
in one hand and a sword in the other."

His first official act was to prohibit the founding of a school of arts and trades, which was being organized by the
efforts and funds raised by natives of standing in the

----------------------------
1 Trinidad Hermenegildo Pardo de Tavera was born in Manila on April 13, 1857, of parents belonging to the Spanish nobility.
His father, Felix Pardo de Tavera, was a lawyer and a brother of the patriot Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, a law professor and
government official. During the early years of the American rule he served as a member of Taft's Philippine Commission and
founded the Federal Party. He died in Manila on March 26, 1925, aged 68.
* Pardo de Tavera "Historical Account of the Philippines from Its Discovery to 1903," Census of the Philippine Islands:
1903 (Washington, D.C, 1905), pp. 376-380.
♦♦♦
community, but the founding of which did not tally with the views of the religious orders. Governor Izquierdo believed
that the establishment of the new school was merely a pretext for the organization of a political club, and he not only
did not allow it to be opened but made a public statement accusing the Filipinos who had charge of the movement. All
of those who had offered their support to ex-Governor La Torre were classed as personas sospechosas (suspects), a
term that since that time has been used in the Philippine Islands to designate any person who refused to servilely obey
the wishes and whims of the authorities. The conservative element in the islands now directed the governmental policy,
and the educated Filipinos fell more and more under the displeasure and suspicion of the governor.

The peace of the colony was broken by a certain incident which, though unimportant in itself, was probably the origin
of the political agitation which, constantly growing for thirty years, culminated in the overthrow of the Spanish
sovereignty in the Philippine Islands. From time immemorial the workmen in the arsenal at Cavite and in the barracks
of the artillery and engineer corps had been exempt from the payment of the tribute tax and from obligation to work
certain days each year on public improvements. General Izquierdo believed the time opportune for abolishing these
privileges and ordered that in the future all such workmen should pay tribute and labor on public improvements. This
produced great dissatisfaction among the workmen affected and the men employed in the arsenal at Cavite went on a
strike, but, yielding to pressure and threats made by the authorities, they subsequently returned to their labors.
The workmen in the Cavite arsenal were all natives of that town and of the neighboring town of San Roque. In a short
while the dissatisfaction and discontent with the government spread all over that section and even the entire troops
became disaffected. On the night of January 20, 1872, there was an uprising among the soldiers in the San Felipe fort,
in Cavite, and the commanding officer and other Spanish officers in charge of the fort were
♦♦♦
assassinated. Forty marines attached to the arsenal and 22 artillerymen under Sergeant La Madrid took part in this
uprising, and it was believed that the entire garrison in Cavite was disaffected and probably implicated. But if the few
soldiers who precipitated the attack believed they would be supported by the bulk of the army and that a general
rebellion against Spain would be declared in the islands, they were deceived. When the news of the uprising was
received in Manila, General Izquierdo sent the commanding general to Cavite, who reinforced the native troops, took
possession of the fort, and put the rebels to the sword. Sergeant La Madrid has been blinded and badly burned by the
explosion of a sack of powder and, being unable to escape, was also cut down. A few of the rebels were captured and
taken to Manila and there was no further disturbance of the peace or insubordination of any kind.

This uprising among the soldiers in Cavite was used as a powerful lever by the Spanish residents and by the friars.
During the time that General La Torre was chief executive in the Philippine Islands the influential Filipinos did not
hesitate to announce their hostility to the religious orders, and the Central Government in Madrid had announced its
intention to deprive the friars in these islands of all powers of intervention in matters of civil government and of the
direction and management of the management of the university. Moret, the colonial minister, had drawn up a scheme
of reforms by which he proposed to make a radical change in the colonial system of government which was to
harmonize with the principles for which the revolution3 in Spain had been fought. It was due to these facts and
promises that the Filipinos had great hopes of an improvement in the affairs of their country, while the friars, on the
other hand, feared that their power in the colony would soon be completely a thing of the past.
♦♦♦
The mutiny in Cavite gave the conservative element – that is, those who favored a continuation of the colonial modus
vivendi – an opportunity to represent to the Spanish Government that a vast conspiracy was afoot and organized
throughout the archipelago with the object of destroying the Spanish sovereignty. They stated that the Spanish
Government in Madrid was to blame for the propagation of pernicious doctrines and for the hopes that had been held
out from Madrid to the Filipino people, and also because of the leanings of ex-Governor La Torre and of other public
functionaries who had been sent to the Philippine Islands by the Government that succeeded Queen Isabella. The fall
of the new rulers in Spain within a few days, as well as other occurrences, seemed to accentuate the claims made by
the conservative element in the Philippine Islands regarding the peril which threatened Spanish sovereignty in the
islands; it appeared as though the prophecies were about to be fulfilled. The Madrid authorities were not able to combat
public opinion in that country; no opportunity was given nor time taken to make a thorough investigation of the real
facts or extent of the alleged revolution; the conservative element in the Philippine Islands painted the local condition
of affairs in somber tints; and the Madrid Government came to believe, or at least to suspect, that a scheme was being
concocted throughout the islands to shake off Spanish sovereignty. Consistent with the precedents of their colonial
rule, the repressive measures adopted to quell the supposed insurrection were strict and sudden. No attempt appears
to have been made to ascertain whether or not the innocent suffered with the guilty, and the only end sought appeared
to be to inspire terror in the minds of all by making examples of a certain number, so that none in the future should
attempt, nor even dream of any attempt at secession.

Many of the best known Filipinos were denounced to the military authorities, and they, the sons of Spaniards born in
the islands and men of mixed blood (Spanish and Chinese), as well as the Indians of pure blood, as the Philippine
Malays were called, were persecuted and punished without distinction by the military authorities.

♦♦♦
Those who dared to oppose themselves to the friars were punished with special severity; among others may be
mentioned the priests Burgos, a half-blood Spaniard, Zamora, a half-blood Chinaman, and Gomez, a pure-blood
Tagalog, who had vigorously opposed the friars in the litigation over the curacies in the various provinces. The three
priests mentioned were condemned to death by a military court-martial; and Antonio M. Regidor, a lawyer and
councilman of Manila, Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, lawyer and member of the administrative council, P. Mendoza, curate
of Santa Cruz, Guevarra, curate of Quiapo, the priests Mariano Sevilla, Feliciano Gomez, Ballesteros, Jose Basa, the
lawyers Carillo, Basa, Enriquez, Crisanto Reyes, Maximo Paterno, and many others were sentenced to life
imprisonment on the Marianas Islands. The Government thus secured its object of terrorizing the Filipino people, but
the punishments meted out were not only unjust but were from every point of view unnecessary, as there had not been
the remote intention on the part of anyone to overthrow the Spanish sovereignty. On the contrary, the attitude of Moret,
Labra, Becerra, and other high officials in the Madrid Government had awakened in the breasts of the Filipinos a
lively friendship for the home government, and never had the ties which bound the colony to Spain been as close as
they were during the short interval between the arrival of General La Torre and the time when General Izquierdo, in
the name of the home government, was guilty of the atrocities mentioned above, of which innocent men were made
victims.

A careful study of the history and documents of that time brings to light the part which the religious orders played in
that sad drama. One of the results of the so-called revolution of Cavite was to strengthen the power of the friars in the
Philippine Islands in such manner that the Madrid Government, which up to that time had contemplated reducing the
power of the religious orders in these islands, was obliged not only to abandon its intention, but to place a yet greater
measure of official influences at the service of the friars, and from that time they were considered as an important
factor in the preservation of the Spanish sovereignty in the colony.
♦♦♦
This influence was felt throughout the islands, and not only were the friars taken into the confidence of the
Government, but the Filipino people looked upon the religious orders as their real masters and as the representatives,
powerful and unsparing, of the Spanish Kingdom.

But there were other results following upon the unfortunate policy adopted by Governor Izquierdo. Up to that time
there had been no intention of secession from Spain, and the only aspiration of the people was to secure the material
and educational advancement of the country. The Filipino people had never blamed the Spanish nation for the
backward condition in which the islands existed, nor for the injustices committed in the islands by the Spanish
officials; but on the contrary it was the custom to lay all the blame for these things on the individual officers guilty of
maladministration, and no attempt had been made to investigate whether or not the evils under which the islands
suffered were due to fundamental causes. The persecutions which began under Governor Izquierdo were based on the
false assumption that the Filipino people were desirous of independence, and although this was an unfounded
accusation, there were many martyrs to the cause, among whom were found many of the most intelligent and well-to-
do people, without distinction of color or race or nationality, who were sentenced to death, to imprisonment, or were
expatriated because they were believed to aspire to the independence of these islands. The fear which the people felt
of the friars and of the punishments meted out by the Government was exceeded only by the admiration which the
Filipino people had for those who did not hesitate to stand up for the rights of the country. In this manner the
persecutions to which the people were subjected served as a stimulus and an educative force, and from that time the
rebellion was nursed in secret and the passive resistance to the abuses of the official power became greater day by
day.

No attempt was made to allay the ill-feeling which existed between the Filipinos and the Spaniards, especially the
friars, caused by the mutiny in Cavite and the cruel
♦♦♦
manner in which the punishment was meted out. Many years would have been necessary to heal the wounds felt by
the large number of families whose members were made the victims of the unjust sentences of the military courts-
martial. Nothing was done by the Government to blot out the recollection of these actions; on the contrary, it appeared
to be its policy to continually bring up the memory of these occurrences as a reminder to the malcontents of what they
had to expect; but the only thing accomplished was to increase the popular discontent. It was from that time that every
disagreement between the Spaniards and Filipinos, however trivial, was given a racial or political character; everytime
a friar was insulted or injured in any way, it was claimed to be an act of hostility to the Spanish nation.

********
 ♦♦♦

Document 303
Official Report of Governor Izquierdo on
the Cavite Mutiny of 1872

Governor General Rafael Izquierdo reported to the Spanish Minister of War, dated Manila, January 23,
1872, blaming the Cavite Mutiny on the native clergy, some local residents, intellectuals, and even El Eco
Filipino, a Madrid-based reformist newspaper. Significantly, he calls the military mutiny an "insurrection",
an "uprising", and a "revolution". The text of the report is as follows:*

From the summary of information received – that is, from the declaration made before the fiscal – it seems definite
that the insurrection was motivated and prepared by the native clergy, by the mestizos and native lawyers, and by
those known here as abogadillos. Some are residents of Manila, others from Cavite, and some from the nearby
provinces.

The instigators, to carry out their criminal project, protested against the injustice of the government in not paying the
provinces for their tobacco crop, and against the usury that some (officials) practise in (handling) documents that the
Finance department gives crop owners who have to sell them at a loss. They encouraged the rebellion by protesting
what they called the injustice of having obliged the workers in the Cavite arsenal to pay tribute starting January 1
(1872) and to render personal service, from which they were formerly exempted.

To seduce the native troops, they resorted to superstitions with which the indios are so prone to believe; persuading
them that the Chief of State (hari) would be an ecclesiastic and the rest or the clergy who backed the uprising would
celebrate daily for its success. Thus the rebellion could not fail because God was with them; and those who would not
revolt they would kill immediately. Taking advantage of the ignorance of those

----------------------------
* Carlos Quirino, "More Documents on Burgos," Philippine Studies, Manila, Ateneo de Manila University, Vol. 18, pp.
167-170.
♦♦♦
 ♦♦♦
classes and the propensity of the Indio to steal, they offered (to those who revolted) the wealth of the Spaniards and
of the regular clergy, employment and ranks in the army; and to this effect they said that fifteen native batallions
would be created, in which the soldiers who revolted would have jobs as officers and chiefs. The lawyers and
abogadillos would direct the affairs of government, of the administration and of justice.

Up to now it has not been clearly determined if they planned to establish a monarchy or a republic, because the Indios
have no word in their language to describe this different form of government, whose head in Tagalog would be called
hari; but it turns out that they would place at the head of the government a priest; and there were great probabilities –
nay, a certainty – that the head selected would be D. Jose Burgos, or D. Jacinto Zamora, parish priests of S. Pedro of
Manila.

All the Spaniards, including the friars, would be executed except for the women; and their belongings confiscated.
Foreigners would be respected.
This uprising has roots, and with them were affiliated to a great extent the regiments of infantry and artillery, many
civilians and a large number of mestizos, indios and some ilustrados from the provinces.

To start the revolution, they planned to set fire to the district of Tondo. Once the fire was set and while the authorities
were busy putting it out, the regiment of artillery with the help of the part of the infantry would seize Fort Santiago of
this Capital (they would then) fire cannons to inform the rebels of Cavite (of their success). The rebels in Cavite
counted on the artillery detachment that occupied the fort and on the navy helped by 500 natives led by the pardoned
leader Camerino. This person and his men, located at the town of Bacoor and separated from the fort of San Felipe by
a small arm of the sea, would cross the water and reach the fort where they would find arms and ammunition.
♦♦♦
The rebels (in Cavite) made the signals agreed upon by means of lanterns, but the native civilians (in Bacoor) although
they tried it, failed because of the vigilance of the (Spanish) navy that had placed there a gunboat and armed vessels.

Loyalists who went to arrest the parish priest of Bacoor found an abandoned vessel loaded with arms, including
carbines and revolvers.

The uprising should have started in Manila at midnight abetted by those in Cavite, but the rebels of this city went
ahead of time. The civil-military governor of Cavite and the commanders of Regiment 7 took very timely precautions;
they knew how to keep the soldiers loyal (although these had been compromised) and behaved with valor and
gallantry, obliging the rebels to take refuge in the fort of San Felipe.

Such is your Excellency, the plan of the rebels, those who guided them, and the means they counted upon for its
realization. For a long time now, through confidential information and others of a vaguer character, I have been told
that since 1869 – taking advantage of a group that had left behind plans for an uprising, but was not carried out because
of the earthquake of 1862 – there existed in Manila a junta or center that sought and found followers; and that as a
pretext they had established a society for the teaching of arts and trades. Months ago I suspended it indirectly, giving
an account to Your Excellency in my confidential report No. 113 dated August 1, (1871) to which Your Excellency
has not yet replied.

It has also been said that this center or junta received inspiration from Madrid, where newspapers of advanced ideas
flourish; to sustain them subscriptions are (locally)
♦♦♦
solicited; in effect, newspapers such as El Eco Filipino1 were sent here from Madrid, which were distributed by persons
now imprisoned, whose articles thundered against everything that can be found here.

As in the case of my worthy predecessor, I have continuously received anonymous letters, but because I was confident
that I could put down and punish any uprising, I gave no credit (to these reports) in order not to cause alarm; and
instead continued a vigilant watch wherever possible within the limited means at my command. I had everything ready
(for any untoward possibility), taking into account the limited peninsular force which composes the army.

********
------------------------------
1 This El Eco Filipino was a fortnightly periodical and was established by a Spanish brother-in-law of Jose Maria Basa, in
Madrid in 1871, with Manuel Regidor, brother of Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor y Jurado, as editor. It should be noted that Manuel
Regidor wrote under his pen-name the rare and valuable book entitled Islas Filipinas (1869), which Dr. Rizal highly praised because
of its bold exposé of the defects of Spanish rule in the Philippines and the urgent necessity for reforms to remedy them. The motto
of the El Eco Filipino was: "Spain in the Philippines, The Philippines with Spain." (See Clarita T. Nolasco, The Creoles in Spanish
Philippines. Manila, 1969, MS., pp. 359-360.)
The aim of the El Eco Filipino was to secure reforms from the Spanish Government, such as the restoration of the Philippine
representation in the Spanish Cortes, freedom of the press, freedom of education from friar control, replacement of the forced labor
and tribute with reasonable taxes, secularization of the parishes, and abolition of the tobacco monopoly. Its first issue appeared on
September 5, 1871. We do not know its last issue. The issues preserved now in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid are from
September 5, 1871 to April 8, 1872. There might be a few other issues after April 8, 1872. Definitely, this periodical died out before
the end of 1872. Its tragic demise was caused by the restoration of the reactionary regime in Spain and the exile to the Marianas of
Jose M. Basa, Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Antonio Ma. Regidor, Maximo Paterno, Father Pedro Dandan, Father Mariano Sevilla,
and other Filipino patriots implicated in the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 who were its supporters. Governor General lzquierdo regarded
El Eco Filipino as subversive and blamed it for the eruption of the Cavite Mutiny. (Vide, Carlos Quirino, "El Eco Filipino," The
Philippine Colophon, Manila, July-December, 1965). pp. 2-5.