PS 5

Introduction

Filipino artists are almost visible in all forms of arts. Many Filipinos can draw figures in
papers which they observe from their surroundings. This type of skill was used by most Filipino
Artists during the colonial periods, particularly during the American regime where censorship
of political expressions was prevailing. Many artists translate their views and opinions against
the American colonial government through their pen and paper, mostly in drawing. Caricature
is one of the modes of expressing their sentiments against those acts which are offensive to many
Filipinos. Renown political historian, Alfred McCoy together with Filipino cartoonist, Alfredo
Roces, teamed-up in compiling the Philippine cartoons published during the American era.
This is the seventh series of the nine (9) historical accounts in Philippine history presented
in this module.

Topics
 Background of the Authors
 Historical Background of the Philippine cartoons
 Context Presentation of Some Philippine Cartoons
o Memories of the Visit (Recuerdos de la Visita)
o The New Democracy
o The Director’s Confidantes (El Confidente del Director)
o The Procession
o Equal Opportunity
 Context Analysis of McCoy’s Philippine Cartoons
 Contribution and Relevance of McCoy and Roces’ Philippine Cartoons Book in
Understanding the Grand Narrative of Philippine History

Learning Objectives

After studying this lesson, the student should be able to:

1. Identify the significance of political cartoons during the American period.
2. Use political cartoons as a form of political expression.
3. Explain the importance of political cartoons to the grand narrative of Philippine history
4. Evaluate the relevance of Philippine cartoons to the present time.
Background of the Authors

During the American era, political cartoons gained popularity as a form of expression.
Many artists made use of cartoons as political commentaries to expose the ills of the American
colonial government. Alfred McCoy provided an analysis of the pressing problems and issues of
American colonialism manifested in political cartoons. Together with Alfredo Reyes Roces, an
artist, they compiled many political cartoons by Filipino artists depicting the Philippines during
the American rule.
Alfred McCoy was born on June 8, 1945 in Massachusetts, USA. He earned his BA in
European Studies from Columbia College in 1968. He finished his MA in Asian Studies at the
University of California in Berkeley in 1969 and his PhD in Southeast Asian History at Yale
University in 1977. He studies Philippine political caricatures to understand the social and
political contexts of the Philippines during the American period and later worked with Alfredo
Roces, his co-author of Philippine Cartoons: Political Caricatures of the American Era. Though
McCoy did not create any political caricatures, his interest in them urged him to compile such
caricatures from various sources tom produce a single collection.
Alfredo Reyes Roces was born on April 29, 1923. He was a painter, an essayist and
versatile artist who is considered to be a prominent figure in Philippine art. His paintings started
with a figurative style but soon began amalgamate expressionism, Fauvism and impressionism.
Several newspapers in Manila like The independent and The Philippine Free Express and Bag-
Ong Kusog, a leading periodical in Cebu, included political cartoons in their editorials.
The Philippines Free Press was founded in 1906 by Judge W.A. Kincaid but and was
taken over by McCullough Dick due to bankruptcy. The newspaper was published in both in
Spanish and English. It featured investigative articles regarding the country’s development. It
had a personal tone since it was not tied to a particular party. It also advocated integrity,
democracy and Philippine national progress.
Lipag-Kalabaw was launched in the same year as Philippine Free Press. It was published
in Tagalog and Spanish containing satiric cartoons. All throughout its publication, it maintained
anonymity by not having a masthead and but having the artists and writers use pen names. This
gave artists and writers agency on how they wanted to express themselves.
The Independent was founded in 1915 by the Father of Cebuano Letters, Vicente Sotto,
one of the militant and aggressive advocates of immediate independence. It was a weekly
newspaper published in English and Spanish which served as a forum for the discussion of
political issues. It was also where Fernando Amorsolo began his career as the “angriest of
Manila’s Political cartoonists.”
In Cebu, one popular newspaper was the Bag-Ong Kusog which literally means “New
Force.” Bag-Ong Kusog was known for highlighting the conditions in Cebu prior to the war. It
often talked about the differences between the Spanish and American colonial governments. This
newspaper depicted the breakdown of hallowed customs and social practices due to American
influence. It focused on criticism of co-education introduced by the Americans, which
endangered the virtue of women.
Historical Background the Philippine Cartoons

The Spanish colonial period in the Philippines was characterized by strict censorship
resulting in a lack of political liberty and minimal avenues for expressing political views. Spanish
censorship banned non-religious publications, thus compelling newspaper publications to be
distributed underground. However, the transition to the American colonial period provided
leeway in the publication of independent newspapers. Initially, newspapers were scrutinized by
the government to ensure that they did not contain anti-American sentiments which were
branded as subversive and were confiscated. As such, the four decades of the American colonial
rule became a formative period in Philippine history.
Censorship was loosened when civil government was established in 1901. This gave Filipinos the
right to publish without prior censorship of the government. Two months after strict censorship
was removed, Rafael Palma launched El Renacimiento (Rebirth) which became the most influential
of the early nationalist newspapers campaigning for the right to a free press. Whenever the
American felt offended with any publication, they used libel and sedition laws to obstruct the
developing hostilities. After facing two livet suits, El Renacimiento had to discontinue.
Nevertheless, Martin Ocampo and Fernando Ma. Guerrero established a new publication, La
Vanguardia, in the same office and survived until World War II as one of Manila’s leading
newspapers.

Context Presentation of Some Philippine Cartoons

There are several political cartoons presented by McCoy in his book which are
compilations taken from different newspapers and magazines.
Memories of the Visit (Recuerdos de la Visita)

This is a cartoon published by Lipag Kalabaw on December 5, 1908. The cartoon depicted
the Filipino shoeshine boys polishing the shoes of the US sailors who have docked in Manila from
their US Asiatic Fleet in November 1908 and crowded into bars and brothels. The cartoonist here
shows one shoeshine boy asking another, “What did we profit from the Php 100,000 which the
sailors visiting here are supposed to have spent?”. The other answers, “Nothing, they left us the
dirt from their shoes.”
The cartoon’s satire operates on at least three levels. The criticism of the sailors’ spending
expresses a growing Filipino objection to the jarring economic and social consequences of the
American military presence. Reacting to Filipino complaints about the many disreputable among
the American veterans who had remained in the provinces, usually living off a Filipina wife and
engaging in drunken brawls, The Philippine Commission passed a law aimed at weeding out the
vagrant veterans.
The cartoon also hints at a more subtle criticism of American colonialism. If US rule were
like sailors’ visit would the Filipinos not end their decades of submission with little more than
dirt from America’s “shoes”?

The New Democracy

 This is a political cartoon bannered by the Philippines Free Press on December 11, 1920.
The cartoon mocked Senator Lope K. Santos for introducing a bill requiring all mountain people
to wear lowland dress and change their names or be imprisoned for 30 days to five years. Santos’
bill triggered outbursts from the minorities who seemed were violated by their rights and culture.
The American imperialist government used the minorities as propaganda against the Filipino
nationalists who thought that they cannot control the minorities and have no power to transform
these people. This
thinking had led the
American government to
extend their rule in the
Philippines knowing that
the lowland people have
no control to the
minorities and granting
Philippines independence
is not yet viable. Sad to
learned that the minorities
like the Igorots were made
as a show y the Americans
in their homeland where
they were toured and
exposed to different states
and performed their
culture wearing their
traditional clothes. This
act was degrading to the Filipinos.

The Director’s Confidantes (El Confidente del Director)

This cartoon is published by Lipag Kalabaw on April 25, 1908 which shows a group of
Filipino medical doctors pleading with Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Victor G. Heiser to
employ them as public health doctors. Interior Secretary Dean C. Worcester and his subordinate
Dr. Heiser had rebuffed many qualified Filipino applicants and imported American doctors, a
policy that angered nationalists and split the Philippine commission along racial lines, Filipino
and American, in 1907. While conservative Commissioners like Cameron Forbes believed Filipino
doctors incompetent and supported Worcester, the Filipino commissioners, notably, Dr. T.H.
Pardo de Tavera, attacked the policy. With the advent of Governor–General Harrison in 1913, the
medical training was expanded and Filipino doctors were given preference.
The Procession

Another caricature published by Lipag Kalabaw on July 27, 1907 depicts a procession where
Municipal candidate for 1908 Manila election, Miguel Velasco joined the procession intended to
gain votes from the people. Velasco gained the support of the Catholic church which stirred some
outburst from outrage secular nationalists. The procession waves the banner of the Centro
Catolico, a vigorous lay organization that tried to maintain Catholic influence in areas such as
education and politics. Attempts to lobby for appointment of Catholic teachers bought the Centro
into conflict with Education Secretary James F. Smith, himself a Catholic. The other banner is for
the Liga Anti-Pornografica, a moral regeneration movement that tried to recover, on an informal
basis, the censorship powers the church had enjoyed under Spain.
Equal Opportunity

This economic cartoon depicted by Lipag Kalabaw on October 31, 1908 shows two big fat
American men carrying sacks of money while they drag a skinny Filipino man, Juan dela Cruz,
on his neck forcing him to vomit money in pesos from his mouth.

Two of the most visible American Corporations during the first decade of American rule
were Atlantic Gulf and Pacific Company (AGPC) and Manila Electric Road railway and Light
Company (MERALCO). The AGPC had won lucrative contracts for construction of an entire new
port of Manila, the US Navy coaling station at Sangley point and marine railway for the
Philippine Coast Guard. The MERALCO, on the other hand, was awarded a contract for Manila’s
electrical generation and light rail transport. Meralco’s contract guaranteed it a 50 year monopoly
with the right to fix its own power and transport rerates for 25 years. The company charged the
highest rail rates fares in Asia and forced most of the City’s working class to walk to work. The
two big companies name were depicted in their clothings

Context Analysis of McCoy’s Philippine Cartoons

The efforts made by Alfred McCoy and Alfredo Roces in compiling the cartoons
published in the different newspapers and magazines in the Philippines during the American era
were remarkable. The various cartoons depicted the scenarios in the Philippines from politics,
economic and socio-cultural. Each cartoon was presented, described and analysed by the authors.
Though the Filipinos were happy being freed from the Spanish rule, their complete liberty
is not yet achieved as they again ruled by the Americans. While democracy has been introduced
by the US government to the Philippines, some areas were still kept in control like press freedom.
The Filipino nationalists were against this American policy so many have established their own
publishing companies to express their opinions. Many of those expressed their resentments
through satiric cartoons where everybody can easily gasp and awaken their minds against the
colonialism.
The selected cartoons illustrate not only the opinion of certain media outfits about the
Philippine society during the American period but also paint a broad image of society and
political under the United States. In the area of politics, it is clear that the Filipinos paid the price
for democracy modelled after the Americans. Patronage became influential and powerful, not
only between clients and patrons, but also between the newly formed political parties composed
of the elite and the United States. Thus, the essence of competing political parties to enforce
choices among voters was cancelled out. The problem continues up to the present where
politicians transfer one party to another depending on which party was powerful in specific
period of time.
The Cartoons also illustrated the convictions of poor Filipinos under American regime.
From the looks of it, it seemed nothing has much changed. For example, a cartoon depicted how
police authorities oppress petty Filipino criminals while turning blind eye on hoarders who
monopolize goods in their huge warehouses.

Contribution and Relevance of McCoy and Roces’ Philippine Cartoons Book in Understanding
the Grand Narrative of Philippine History

The book of McCoy and Roces on Philippine Cartoons was a great eye opener for every
Filipinos who want to learn something on the plight of the Filipinos under the American rule.
This compilation of Philippine cartoons from political, socio-cultural and economic scenarios was
a remarkable as it awakens the minds of every Filipinos to love and protect their country against
any oppressors based on what they learned from the cartoons presented. The limited freedom of
expression among Filipinos during the American period was intelligently circumvented by our
Cartoonists and Cartographers through cartoons where they depicted all the scenarios they
observed from their surroundings. They have captured the hearts of many Filipinos based on
their contextual analysis of the cartoons they have featured.