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GOMBURZA REMEMBERED

Manila, Feb. 17, 2001 - A grateful nation pays tribute today to three Filipino priests remembered by present generations as Gomburza whose historic martyrdom in 1872 first sparked the flames of Filipino nationalism that exploded 26 years later in the Philippine Revolution of 1896 against Spain.

The three Filipino martyrs - Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora - walked to their death by garrote on Feb. 17, 1872, at Bagumbayan Field, now Rizal Park, as cathedral bells tolled from the belfry of Manila churches as a sign of protest against the execution of the innocent secular priests.

Reference materials from the National Historical Institute show that the three priests were implicated by the Spanish government for their involvement in the growing discontent among Filipino workers in the Cavite Arsenal and other places of work against official abuses curtailing the Filipinos' basic freedoms.

The discontent over underpaid workers and discriminatory policies pushed them to stage a revolt that was to come down in history as the Cavite Mutiny of Jan. 20, 1872.

Their martyrdom spawned the wave of resentment against racial discrimination by the colonial powers on Filipinos who, fragmented as they were and now by geographic lines, were silently aspiring to be "treated as equals" in their own land.

It was the same spirit of nationalism that stirred the young minds of then 11-year-old Jose Rizal, 9-year-old Andres Bonifacio, and 8-year-old Apolinario Mabini at the time of the execution by garrote at Bagumbayan Field.

Young as they were when the three priests were executed by the Spanish authorities, Rizal, Bonifacio, and Mabini grew up hearing stories of Gomburza and there are claims that the martyrdom helped mold the political thoughts of the future heroes.

Years later, Rizal, Bonifacio, and Mabini pioneered the call for reforms that led to the exile of Rizal ending in the Philippine Revolt of 1896.

By their own martyrdom, Rizal, Bonifacio, and Mabini, who learned of the execution of the three priests as young boys, were to join them in the roster of the nation's pantheon of heroes and patriots.

To this day, they continue to be revered by a grateful people as first among equals in the honored list of heroes in the annals of Philippine history.

Ambeth Ocampo, writing on Gomburza in the book "Reform and Revolution," said, "Gomburza was not only an inspiration for Rizal but for Bonifacio and many Katipuneros as well."

It has been said, according to Ocampo, that had the Cavite Mutiny and Gomburza not happened, Jose Rizal's life would have taken a different direction.

At the time of their execution, Spanish Gov. Gen. Rafael de Izquierdo asked Archbishop Gregorio Meliton Martinez of the Manila Cathedral to defrock the priests convicted by the government's Council of War for allegedly instigating and participating in the Cavite revolt.

The Manila archbishop refused to obey the order of the Spanish governor general as the accusations thrown by the Spanish government were never clear nor proven. Instead, the archbishop ordered the pealing of bells at the exact time the priests were executed.

Their martyrdom was one great source of inspiration to Rizal that moved him to dedicate his El Filibusterismo to the three priests.

In dedicating his El Filibusterismo to the early Filipino martyrs, Rizal wrote: "The Church, in refusing to degrade you, has placed in doubt the crime imputed on you; the Government, in shrouding your cause with mystery and obscurities, creates belief in some error committed in critical moments, and the whole Philippines, in venerating your memory and calling you martyrs, in no way acknowledges your guilt."

Rizal, stressing the role that their martyrdom has played in breathing life to the Filipinos' first taste of nationalism, wrote in the El Filibusterismo: "As long therefore as your participation in the Cavite uprising is not clearly shown, whether or not you were patriots, whether or not you nourished sentiments of justice and liberty, I have the right to dedicate my work to you, as to victims of the evil that I am trying to fight.

"And while we wait for Spain to reinstate you and make herself jointly culpable for your death, let these pages serve as a belated wreath of dried leaves on your unknown graves, and may your blood be upon the hands of those who, without sufficient proof, assail your memory."

To this day, the gravesites of the three martyred priests could not be located.

What is known, according to the same reference materials from the National Historical Institute, is that the corpses of the priests were moved from Bagumbayan to Paco cemetery and buried in unmarked graves, which until today remains unlocated.

The involvement of the priests in the Cavite uprising also remains unclear. And until now, the Spanish government has not released the court records of the hastily done military trial that sent the three priests to their graves.

What is known is that the three priests were believers of what was good and just.

Reflections of their lives indicate that they fought the racial discriminatory rule of Spanish authorities describing Filipinos as "indios," or "carabao herd" deserving to be beaten with the same rattan poles they were born with.

Filipinos to Spain, then, were nothing than "subordinates." So fierce was their resentment against Filipino discrimination by colonial authorities that there were no final farewells in dying by garrote in Bagumbayan. Father Gomez simply murmured: "Let us go where the leaves never move without the will of God."

Fr. Jose Burgos, the last to be executed on that fateful day, shouted asking: "What crime have I committed to deserve such a death? Is there no justice in the world?"

To his question, 12 Spanish friars shoved the priest and told him to accept a Christian death. Fr. Burgos then retorted: "But I haven't committed any crime."

Filled with arrogance, one of the friars said it all: "Even Jesus Christ was innocent." Such is the rich legacy that the Gomburza martyrdom left for future generations of Filipinos to honor, and hold them in respect. (Bulletin)