"Gomruza" Execution Site - Manila, Philippines
Posted by: 
silverquill
N 14° 34.942 E 120° 58.638
51P E 282088 N 1613103
This marker commemorates the site where three Filipino priests, Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora (known as the "Gomruza") were executed by the Spanish authorities on false charges of sedition on January 20, 1872.
Waymark Code: WMB25K
Location: Philippines
Date Posted: 03/25/2011
Views: 5
The three Filipino priests, Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, were already regarded as threats by the established Spanish authorities when an armed mutiny by Filipino soldiers at Fort San Felipe in Cavite broke out in 1872. They were known collectively by an acronym taken from their surnames, Gomruza. They were all secular priests who advocated for reforms within the Spanish clerical system to give equal rights to native Filipino priests.
The Spanish authorities quickly and brutally quelled the mutiny, with more than forty executions and the exile of many others to Hong Kong, Guam, and Europe. This also gave them occasion to apprehend thee Gomruza on charges of complicity with the failed rebellion. Weaving a web of deceit, false witnesses, and betrayal by there own counsel, they were swiftly convicted of false charges of sedition and complicity with the mutiny, and summarily sentenced to death.
The execution was carried out on this spot in Bagumbayan Field (later known as Luneta, and now Rizal Park) by strangulation using a a torturous device that consisted of a collar about the neck which was slowly tightened until death.
The death of these three priests was largely condemned and further engendered a sense of nationalism and passions for independence among the people. Among them were Jose Rizal who would later pen two bitingly critical novels,
Noli Me Tangere and
El Filibusterismo, the later of which he dedicated to these three martyred priests. Dr. Jose Rizal himself was executed at this same location in 1896, again by the Spanish on false charges of complicity in an armed rebellion. Rizal's martyrdom was the windstorm that fanned the flames of independence and armed revolution which finally led to the end of centuries of Spanish tyranny.
JOSE APOLONIO BURGOS
February 9, 1837 - Februay 17, 1872
Burgos was the intellectual leader of the group, having obtained three undergraduate degrees with honors, two masters degrees and a doctorate. He openly advocated for reforms and for more power for native clergy and is believed to have authored an anonymously published pamphlet critical of the Spanish church and the corrupt practices of the friars.
JACINTO ZAMORA Y DEL ROSARIO
14 August 14, 1835 - February 17, 1872
Fr. Zamora was born in Manila and graduated from the University of San Tomas. Among his assignments was assistant priest at Manila Cathedral where he met Fr. Jose Burgos. Together they advocated for the rights and position of the native clergy.
MARIANO GOMEZ Y GUARD
August 2, 1799 - February 17, 1872
Born of a Spanish father and Chinese mother in a suburb of Manila, Gomez received his theological training at the University of San Tomas, and was eventually assigned as head priest of Bacoor, Cavite. It was at the Spanish garrison of Fort San Felipe in Cavite where a mutiny broke out, which many had hoped would be the start of an armed revolution that would spread. So, it was a convenient pretext for the Spanish authorities to arrest Gomez, along with Burgos and Zamora, and charge them with complicity in the rebellion, charges that could never be proved, of course.
The marker at this site is a short granite obelisk with two bronze plaques mounted on one face, with a small area of landscaped grass an flowers and pool in front of it, amid a stone plaza near the Dr. Jose P. Rizal Martyrdom site in Rizal Park.
ON THIS SPOT, ON FEBRUARY 17, 1872, FATHERS,
JOSE BURGOS MARIANO GOMEZ, JACINTO ZAMORA,
WERE EXECUTED FOR ALLEGED COMPLICITY WITH
THE MILITARY UPRISING IN CAVITE ON JANUARY
20, 1872.
THEY WERE EXECUTED BY STRANGULATION – BY
A VILE DEVICE CONSISTING OF AN IRON COLLAR
WHICH THE EXECUTIONER TIGHTENED SLOW-
LY UNTIL THE MARTYRS MET DEATH
ON THIS SPOT, ON FEBRUARY 17, 1871,
FATHERS JOSE G. BURGOS, MARIANO
C. GOMES AND JACINTO R. ZAMORA,
WERE EXECUTED BY STRANGULATION
FOR ALLEGED COMPLICITY WITH THE
MILITARY UPRISING IN CAVITE ON
JANUARY 20, 1872