The 1872 mutiny in Cavite was an uprising of about 200 native troops and laborers which many accounts detail that its main purpose was to get rid of the Spanish government; however, this agreed by many scholars that the event was exaggerated to legitimize the persecution and execution of those who they perceived to be threats to their power.

The trio, under largely dubious evidence, were charged with subversion and was executed by garrote in Luneta de Bagumbayan, on February 17, 1872.

[2] Jose Rizal, brother of Paciano, who was a close friend of Burgos, dedicated his second novel, El filibusterismo, in honor of the three martyr-priests.

Rizal's writings subsequently led to the Spanish colonial government charging him for rebellion, sedition and conspiracy, and was executed via firing squad in Bagumbayan, Manila, on December 30, 1896.

Many scholars such as Zaide describe that the unfair trial and execution of the priests was the birth of Filipino nationalism that eventually led to the Propaganda movement and subsequent revolution culminating in the declaration of independence in 1898.

Two lifeless bodies, that of Gomes and Zamora are on the foreground, while the central figure Burgos is standing up, looking at the skies in what could be described as a pleading but dignified pose.

The monument was removed and re-installed in 1980 in its current location in Padre Burgos Ave. in front of the old Congress building (now the National Museum of Fine Arts of the Philippines).

In 2017, the partnership of the National Museum of the Philippines and the Intramuros Administration led through a 15-million peso grant which saw the revival of the park and its monument.

[20] Furthermore, the law settled the jurisdiction of the National Museum of the Philippines, being the primary government entity responsible for the preservation and development of the site and its monument.