Discover the Philippine Caricature

1. A GLANCE AT SELECTED
PHILIPPINE POLITICAL
CARICATURE IN ALFRED MCCOY’S
PHILIPPINE CARTOONS:
PHILIPPINE CARICATURE OF THE
AMERICAN ERA (1900-1941)

2. Political cartoons and caricature are a rather recent art
form, which veered away form the classical art by
exaggerating human features and poking fun at its subjects.
Such art genre and technique became a part of the print media
is a form of social and political commentary, which usually
targets persons of power and authority. Cartoons became an
effective tool of publicizing opinions though heavy use of
symbolism, which is different from a verbose written editorial
and opinion pieces. The unique way that a caricature
represents opinion and captures the audience’s imagination is
reason enough for histories to examine these political cartoons.

3. The cartoon shows a politician from Tondo, named Dr.
Santos, passing his crown to his brother-in-law, Dr.
Barcelona. A Filipino guy was trying to stop Santos, telling
the latter to stop giving Barcelona the crown because it is not
his to begin with.

4. We see a Filipino child who stole a skinny chicken because he had
nothing to eat. The police officer was relentlessly pursuing the said
child. A man wearing a salakot, labeled Juan de la Cruz was grabbing
the officer, telling him to leave the small-time pickpockets and thieves
instead. He was pointing to huge warehouse containing bulks of rice,
milk and grocery products.

5. This cartoon was a commentary on the unprecedented cases
of colorum automobiles in the city streets. The Philippine Free
Press published this commentary when fatal accidents
involving colorum vehicles and taxis occurred too often
already.

6. This cartoon depicts a cinema. A blown-up police officer was
at the screen saying the couples are not allowed to neck and make
love in the theater. Two youngsters looked horrified while an older
couple seemed amused

7. The transition from the Spanish Colonial period to the
American Occupation period demonstrated different
strands of changes and shifts in culture, society and
politics. The Americans introduced democracy to the
nascent nation and the consequences far from ideal. The
Filipinos were also introduced to different manifestation of
modernity like healthcare, modern transportation and
media. The upper principalia class experienced economic
prosperity with the opening up of the Philippine ecomomy
to the United State but the majority of the poor Filipino
remained poor, desperate and victims of state repression.

8. The selected cartoons illustrates 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 politics under the United
States. First, it seemed that the Filipino politicians at
that time did not understand well enough the essence
of democracy and the accompanying democratic
institutions and processes. This can be seen in the
rising dynastic politics of Tondo as depicted in the
cartoon published by The Independent.

9. Lastly, the cartoons also illustrated the conditions of
poor Filipinos in the Philippines now governed by the
United States. From the looks of it, nothing much has
changed. For example, a cartoon depicted how police
authorities oppress petty Filipino criminals while
turning blind eye on hoarders who monopolize gods in
their huge warehouse. The other cartoon depicts how
Americans controlled Filipinos through seemingly
harmless American objects. By controlling their
consciousness and mentality, Americans got to control
and subjugate Filipinos.