30 APRIL

1896 - Emilio Jacinto y Dizon, the so-called "Brains of the  Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan nang manga Anak nang Bayan," the underground society-turned-revolutionary-government fighting for liberation against Spain, pays homage to the legacy and heroism of Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Apolonio G. Burgos,, and Jacinto R. Zamora (GOMBURZA), the three patriotic Filipino priests that the Spanish colonial authorities ordered executed while wearing their priestly robes; writing under the pseudonym "DIMAS ILAW" four months before the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution, Jacinto expresses belief that while compatriots would honor the priests' memory and continue the pursuit of justice and equality, he admits that some are not yet prepared to fight for the said noble ideals; the priest-martyrs, who incurred the ire of the colonial Spanish officials for advocating the secularization of the clergy, were executed on February 15, 1872 through garrotte at Bagumbayan, Manila after being tried with practically no counsel by the colonial Spanish military tribunal at the Fort Santiago on trumped-up charges of instigating the Cavite Mutiny; Jacinto's ode to the fallen compatriot priest entitled "¡¡¡ Gomez, Burgos, Zamora !!!" goes in part:

Buhat sa araw na yaun, ang kanilang mga pusung bukal ng sagana’t wagas na pagibig sa kanilang mga kalulu’t kapatid, ay hindi na tumitibok; ang kanilang kaloobang karurukang mataas ng mga banal na nasa ay hindi na nagpipita; ang kanilang mga bibig ay hindi na nangungusap, hindi na tumututol sa pagsasangalang ng Katuiran at ng kagalingang lahat... Ang kapusungan at ang lilong galit ng mga palamara ay nagdami’t hukom, at sila’y kinitlan ng hininga nang walang makawangis na katampalasanan.

Raw photo credit: http://fil.wikipilipinas.org/images/3/32/Gomez-burgos-zamora.jpg