THE recent Gomburza film by Jesuit Communications directed by Pepe Diokno (an unexpected hit!) and an earlier documentary by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) with the same name of which I was a historical consultant underscored the link between the events of 1872 and the martyrdom of the Filipino priests Mariano Gomes, José Burgos and Jacinto Zamora, and what eventually would become the birth of the Filipino nation. This was achieved through José Rizal, who dedicated his second novel El Filibusterismo to the three priests, and Andres Bonifacio s revolutionary movement, the Katipunan, which used what was believed to be a piece of clothing from the priests execution in their rituals, sort of a talisman, and vowed in their writings to avenge them.