1 THE BEGINNINGS OF FILIPINO NATIONALISM

I. Basco’s Economic Plans

José Basco y Vargas was the 44th governor of the Philippines

under Spanish colonial rule, from 1778 to 1787. He was the most

economic minded governor-general. He established the Sociedad

Económica de los Amigos del País, or the Economic Society of

Friends of the Country. He also made the colony independent, by

freeing it from the control of New Spain, which is today Mexico.

His accomplishments can be stated in the following:

2 THE BEGINNINGS OF FILIPINO NATIONALISM

II. The Opening of Suez Canal

The opening of Manila (1834) and other parts of the Philippine to foreign trade brought

not only economic prosperity to the country but also a remarkable transformation in the life of

the Filipinos.

The Suez Canal, which connected the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, was

inaugurated in 1869.  It was built by a French engineer named Ferdinand de Lesseps. By passing

through the Canal, vessels journeying between

Barcelona and Manila no longer had to pass by the

Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa.

Thus, they were able to shorten their traveling time

from three months to 32 days.

Thanks to the Suez Canal, trading in the Philippines became increasingly profitable.

More and more foreign merchants and businessmen came to the colony, bringing with them a lot

of progressive ideas. The Filipinos not only gained more knowledge and information about the

world at large; they also gained the desire for freedom and improvement in their lives.

3 THE BEGINNINGS OF FILIPINO NATIONALISM

III. Cavite Mutiny

The Cavite Mutiny of 1872 was an uprising of military

personnel of Fort San Felipe, the Spanish arsenal in

Cavite, Philippines on January 20, 1872. Around 200

soldiers and 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 nationalist 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.

In the cold, gray dawn of the 17th of February, 1872, people started to gather on the grassy

field of Bagumbayan (now Rizal Park) south of Intramuros. At first, they were mostly Spanish

soldiers and the Guardia Civil in their fine uniforms, office holders and letrados in suits, rotund

friars with their sacristans, principalia in short black jackets worn over untucked baro. They were

in a festive mood for they had come to witness a public execution, always a fiesta in the Spanish

establishment.

4 THE BEGINNINGS OF FILIPINO NATIONALISM

IV. The Execution of GomBurZa

GOMBURZA stands for the names of the three Filipino priests- Fathers Mariano Gómez,

José Apolonio Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, executed on February 17, 1872, at Bagumbayan,

Manila. These three martyrs were sentenced to death by

means of the garrote, mechanical strangulation, on the

charges of subversion and inciting revolution after the

Cavite mutiny.

Prior to the execution of the three Filipino martyrs,

there had been an unresolved issue about secularization in

the Philippines that resulted a conflict among the religious

regulars and the church seculars. Father Mariano Gomez

was a strong advocate of the rights of the secular clergy.

The three priests in black cassocks, bound and manacled, escorted by Spanish friars, guards and

drummers appeared at a gate in the walled city. They were the condemned men, Fathers Burgos,

Gomez and Zamora, who had been sentenced to death for sedition against the Spanish Crown

and were to be executed by garrote.