diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

THE CAVITE MUTINY: FIVEUNKNOWN EARLIER TRIALS, 1872Leandro Torino SanzINTRODUCTIONThe ill-starred life of Fr. Jose A. Burgos overshadowed andreoriented the life of Jose Rizal.' The injustice he believed suffered by thisfriend of his older brother, Paciano, hammered on his temples, moving hisnovelist's pent to produce Noli me tangere, whose centenary we arecelebrating, a fictitious narrative of the causes and effects of the mutinywhich had occurred in Cavite on the night of 20 January 1872.When one mentions the government suppression of this militaryuprising, however, the talk usually concentrates on the trial whichcondemned the Filipino priests Frs. Jose A. Burgos, Mariano Gomez, andJacinto Zamora. These three were leading members of the clergy and theirexecution has led to the impression that there was only one court, caseconnected with that event. As a matter of fact, there were several casesbrought before the three military tribunals which, according to extant officialrecords, ,were guilty of irregularities later exposed and condemned by thehighest military tribunal at the time, the Supreme War Council of Spain.INITIAL DISPOSITIONSContemporary documents reveal that on the night between 20 and 21January 1872, the head of the Superior Civil Government was appraised at3:00 o'clock before dawn of the 21st of an uprising in Cavite. Heimmediately delegated powers to the Captain General to proceed "with allurgency to suppress it" and impose "swift and exemplary punishment on theguilty:* General Rafael Izquierdo, who was both the Superior CivilGovernor and the Captain General, ordained that "the permanent WarCouncils established in this capital [Manila] and in Cavite use their powers toadjudicate all matters related to the uprising, but exercise jurisdiction upon45