Mariano Gomez was a Filipino secular priest who served the Bacoor, Cavite parish for forty-eight years. He was one of three martyr priests, known as the Gomburza.
Background
Ethnicity:
His parents were Chinese mestizos according to one source and had Japanese blood in their veins according to another, being descendants of Japanese immigrants.
Mariano Gomez was born on August 2, 1799, in Manila, Philippines. He was the son of Alejandro Francisco Gomez and Martina Custodio, who both belonged to the middle class owning houses for rent in different parts of the city.
Education
At the age of eight, Mariano Gomez entered the Colegio de San Jose and received a Bachelor of Theology at fifteen. He continued his studies at the University of Santo Tomas, and at eighteen was granted a Bachelor of Canons degree. His parents wanted him to pursue law and he, therefore, took that course in the same institution, but after two years, for unknown reasons, he shifted to theology. After three years, he received a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree.
Career
Mariano Gomez could have proceeded and taken up the licentiateship had he not taken an interest in the curateship of Ermita. He then took the examination held for the purpose of filling that parish, but he received an early disappointment because the vacancy was not filled by him although he obtained first place in the tests, the reason being ascribed to his young age. Later on, he succeeded in obtaining the highest rating again for a similar position in the curateship of Bacoor, Cavite. Upon saying his first mass, he moved to that town together with his mother, a brother, and three sisters who looked upon him as a second father. He took possession of the parish of Bacoor, as head priest, on June 2, 1824, succeeding Er. Cecilio Bosta, thus serving the second richest parish in Cavite province.
One of the first acts taken by Gomez was the improvement of the town: he caused the straightening of old streets and the laying out of new ones so that they ran in parallels and crosses. He was also instrumental in the construction of a circumferential road that passed through and connected nine barrios outside, and three others within, the town.
Gomez showed a deep interest in the cause of his parishioners and the working class. He succeeded at one time in resisting the claim of a religious corporation that initiated a move to separate four barrios from the jurisdiction of Bacoor to its hacienda. He took to the defense of the poor people when they were unjustly treated. He came to learn that people became impoverished by getting involved in cases or litigations brought to the authorities because of intrigues, connivance, and the vexatious machinery of justice. He, therefore, counseled the method of amicable settlement of disputes based on common understanding and fairness. He called the parties to the convent during Sundays, feast days, or any other convenient time, and patched up their differences.
He encouraged agricultural pursuits in his parish and commercial activities in general, he himself lending money to those in need to advance their undertakings or start new enterprises. The salt industry in the town was thus one of the occupations developed extensively. Thus he was loved and respected by his parishioners. It is narrated that had he not advised the townspeople to go home and keep the peace when he was arrested soon after the Cavite Revolt had become a fact, the people of Bacoor would have risen and not allowed the Spanish soldiers to take him away. It is said that he easily received objects stolen. A word from the pulpit would bring the stolen cart, carabao, or plow as the case may be to the churchyard.
He had a hand, according to Marcelino Gomez (post), in bringing about the signing of the celebrated "Tratado de Malacañan", an agreement between the captain-general and Luis Parang, who was then called a robber and a bandit, thus ending three years of turmoil and strife in the Tagalog provinces of Luzon. By this agreement, the religious corporations were inhibited from raising rents on their lands leased to and cultivated by the people. They were not allowed to drive these farmers from the fields for failure to pay rents, Some 3,000 people who were accused of complicity with Luis Parang were thus freed. Parang was obliged to dissolve his band and to lead a peaceful life in Malate with a pension.
There is not much definite information, except in a general way, about Gomez's activities in connection with the secularization of the parishes' movement. T. H. Pardo de Tavera said that Padres Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora "opposed the friars in the litigation over the curacies in the provinces". Having engendered industry and economic activity among the people, he created a rich parish. He spent part of his income in supporting Filipinos who went abroad to work with Spanish liberals for the recognition of Filipino rights or the introduction of reforms. The sending of a liberal governor in the person of Don Andres Garcia Camba, 1837-1838, is credited to the Filipino agitation for liberalization of Spanish colonial policies. In this governor's term, he had as his secretary Don Matias Vizmanos, the agitator who was responsible for the founding of a school of commerce in Manila. The press campaign in Madrid also enlisted Gomez's support. He contributed to the expense funds which reached a considerable sum of forty thousand pesos at one time.
His participation in the Cavite revolt is obscure. According to Antonio Ma. Regidor, when the workers at the arsenal of Cavite were required to pay the tribute from which they were traditionally exempt, Padre Gomez counseled, through Zaldua and his wife, to resist such an imposition. That he did not have any direct connection with the rebels seems to be very clear, although he must have lent moral support. After the revolt materialized, he was arrested in his convent together with his nephew, Father Feliciano Gomez. After a mock trial Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora were convicted to suffer the extreme penalty of death, together with Zaldua. A monument stands in Bacoor beside which is the church he served for almost forty-eight years. Such was the love and veneration that he cultivated among his parishioners that when he was being taken by soldiers, the people asked him if he wanted to be freed, but he counseled them to keep the peace for they had nothing to fear that he would not return.
Personality
In his dealings with the people, Padre Gomez was noted for his affability and goodness with all men, his modesty, and humility being equally known, for he believed in those qualities as the bases for brotherhood among all people, while servility engendered tyranny.