Fort San Felipe ( Cavite ) Fort San Felipe ( also known as Naval Station Pascual Ledesma or ) is a military structure constructed by Spanish forces in 1609 to protect a part of the then growing Cavite Puerto . The old structure was made of granite blocks , 30 - foot high walls , and a wide stairway leading to the top of the fort . Naval memorabilia including antique cannons and cannon balls decorate the lawns . Today , Fort San Felipe is a nine - hectare land under the administration of Naval Base Cavite of the Philippine Navy , that provides support services such as refueling , re - watering , shore power connections , berthing , ferry services , tugboat assistance , sludge disposal services and military housing . History . As early as 1591 , Gov . Gomez Perez Dasmariñas recognized the strategic importance of Cavite as the “ gate way to the city ” and moved toward its fortification . It was in fact at this isthmus , two decades earlier , that Miguel de Legazpi hid his ships prior to the attack in Manila . Construction . Constructed between 1609 and 1616 , Fort San Felipe is the first military fortress built in the province of Cavite during the time of then Governor Juan de Silua . On August 1663 , Governor Sabiniano Manrique de Lara ordered the construction of a platform that will handle 10 cannons . After some years , four more platforms followed and were named after Catholic saints , and four churches ( San Francisco , Santo Domingo , San Nicolas , and one administered by the Society of Jesus ) were demolished to enhance security measures . On August 14 , 1782 , a strong typhoon almost totally destroyed the whole fortification forcing the provincial military governor to order its reconstruction on March 22 , 1819 . The Cavite Conspiracy . Shortly before the Katipunan was uncovered , Emilio Aguinaldo was planning to attack the Spanish arsenal at Fort San Felipe and he enlisted other Katipuneros to recruit enough men so they could overrun the Spanish garrison . Their meetings were held at the house of Cabuco . Aguinaldo and the other Katipuneros agreed that they would arm the inmates of the provincial jail who were made to work at the garrison . The task of recruiting the inmates was given to Lapidario , who was also the warden of the provincial jail . Aguado was to supply Lapidario with money to buy arms . According to their plan , the uprising would be signalled by fireworks from the warehouse of Inocencio . Other leaders of the uprising were Luciano , Conchu , Pérez , Pablo José , Marcos José , and Juan Castañeda . The revolt was to start on September 1 . On August 26 , Aguinaldo received a letter from Andrés Bonifacio who reported that a Katipunan assembly in Balintawak on August 24 decided to start the revolution on August 30 , to be signalled by a blackout at the Luneta , then known as Bagumbayan . On the appointed day , Bonifacio and his men attacked the Spanish powder magazine in San Juan . Later that same day , the Spanish authorities declared martial law in Manila and the provinces of Cavite , Laguna , Batangas , Bulacan , Pampanga , Tarlac and Nueva Ecija . Aguinaldo learned of the declaration of martial law in a meeting with Spanish Governor Fernando Pargas on the morning of August 31 , 1896 . He then went to Cabezas ' haberdashery and ask him to inform to Lapidario that they had alternative but to rise in arms . Cabezas was the one who enlisted Lapidario for the planned uprising . But Cabezas was not in favor of starting the revolt on August 31 , 1896 so they discussed the uprising further . They decided to postpone the attack to September 3 . However , the Spanish learned of the plan from a dressmaker named Victoriana Sayat and they immediately arrested Lapidario , de Ocampo and Aguado . The three were held incommunicado in the boat " Ulloa " and interrogated . They are presumed to have been tortured . De Ocampo revealed the names of his companions and the thirteen suspects were rounded up on September 3 along with dozens of other Cavite leaders , including the musician Julián Felipe , who would compose the Philippine national anthem the following year . Felipe was incarcerated for nine months at Fort San Felipe . Also subsequently released were Pablo and Marcos José , and Juan Castañeda of Imus , who are also believed to have been involved in the uprising . While awaiting trial , guilt - stricken de Ocampo tried to commit suicide by slashing his stomach with a piece of broken glass . However , he was included in the indictment for treason before a military court which found them guilty on September 11 after a four - hour trial . At 12 : 45 p . m . the following day , the thirteen patriots were brought out of their cells and taken to the Plaza de Armas , outside Fort San Felipe , and executed by musketry . Their bodies were later buried in a common grave at the Catholic cemetery at the village of Caridad . Later , the bodies of seven of the martyrs — Máximo Inocencio , Victorino Luciano , Francisco Osorio , Luis Aguado , Hugo Pérez , José Lallana , and Antonio San Agustín — were exhumed and reburied elsewhere . But the rest — Agapito Conchu , Máximo Gregorio , Alfonso de Ocampo , Eugenio Cabezas , Feliciano Cabuco , and Severino Lapidario remained unclaimed in their common grave . In 1906 , a monument to the Thirteen Martyrs was erected at the place where they were executed . Their families reinterred the remains of their loved ones at the foot of the monument . The capital of Cavite was renamed " Trece Mártires " in their honor and its 13 villages were named for each of the martyrs . Cavite Mutiny of 1872 . The Cavite Mutiny of 1872 was an uprising of military personnel of Fort San Felipe , the Spanish arsenal in Cavite , Philippines on January 20 , 1872 . Around 200 soldiers and laborers rose up in the belief that it would elevate to a national uprising . The mutiny was unsuccessful , and government soldiers executed many of the participants and began to crack down on a burgeoning nationalist movement . Many scholars believe that the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 was the beginning of Filipino nationalism that would eventually lead to the Philippine Revolution of 1896 . The fort was subjected under an uprising led by Sergeant Francisco La Madrid , ending with the tragic garrote of Filipino priests Mariano Gomez , Jose Burgos , and Jacinto Zamora . World War II . In 1941 , the 16th Naval District was established in Fort San Felipe during the American Colonial Period . It is the same place that Japanese forces used as a headquarters after they conquered Cavite during the Second World War . Change of name . In line with Philippine Navy General Order number 229 dated 7 July 2009 , the renaming of Navy installations gives honor to its predecessors in the military / naval service who fought for the protection of the nation ' s sovereignty , territorial integrity , democracy , and the maritime interests of the country . With this , Fort San Felipe was assigned the name Naval Station Pascual Ledesma .