Readings in Philippine History

Module

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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,

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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.

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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

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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.

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Exercise 4.13.

IDENTIFICATION:

______________1. The main author of the Philippine Cartoons: Political caricatures of the
American Era.
______________2. Weekly newspaper founded by Vicente Sotto.
______________3. Popular newspaper in Cebu, tagged as “New Force”.
______________4. Founder of the Philippine Free Press.
______________5. Newspaper founded by Rafael Palma.

Exercise 4.14.

1. What makes cartoons popular among Filipinos during the American period?
2. Create a political cartoon depicting today’s era and explain it.

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References

Asuncion, N. and G. R. Cruz. 2019. Readings in Philippine history. C and E Publishing.

Quezon City, Philippines.243 p.

Candelaria, J.P and V.C. Alporha. 2018. Readings in Philippine history. Rex Book Store.
Manila, Philippines. 144 p.

Constantino, R. 2010. A history of the Philippines. Monthly Press Review. Quezon City,
Philippines.

Ileto, R. 1997. Pasyon and Revolution: Popular Movements in the Philippines, 1840-1910.
Ateneo de Manila University Press. Manila, Philippines.

McCoy, A. and A. Roces. 1985. Philippine Cartoons. Political caricature under American era
1900-1941. Vera-Reyes Inc.

Tan, S. 2009. A history of the Philippines. University of the Philippinbes Press. . Quezon
City, Philippines.

Torres, J.V. 2018. Batis. Sources in Philippine history. C and E Publishing. Quezon City,
Philippines.682 p.

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