ALFRED MCCOY AND

ALEJANDRO ROCES
POLITICAL CARICATURES
OF THE AMERICAN ERA
19OO-1941
WHAT IS CARICATURE?

• IT IS A PICTURE, DESCRIPTION OR IMITATION OF A PERSON

IN WHICH STRIKING CHARACTERISTICS ARE
EXAGERRATED IN ORDER TO CREATE A COMIC OR
GROSTEQUE EFFECT.
POLITICAL CARICATURES
 ALFRED MCCOY
• BORN ON JUNE 8, 1945 IN
MASACHUSETTS U.S.A
• AMERICAN CITIZEN
• A PROFESSOR
• MAJORITY OF HIS WORKS AND
RESEARCH ARE FOCUSED ON
PHILIPPINES
• AUTHOR
• HAS AWARDS
 ALEJANDRO ROCES
• JULY 13, 1924-MAY 23,2011
• THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
• HIS SPOUSE IS IRENE YORSTON
• FILIPINO
• AUTHOR, ESSAYIST, DRAMATIST AND
NATIONAL ARTIST
• SECRETARY OF EDUCATION
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF
“POLITICAL CARICATURE OF
AMERICAN ERA”

• DURING THE AMERICAN ERA, PHILIPPINE POLITICAL CARTOONS

GAINED FULL EXPRESSION.
• HISTORIAN ALFRED MCCOY’S EXTENSIVE RESEARCH IN PHILIPPINE
AND AMERICAN ARCHIEVES PROVIDES A COMPREHENSIVE
BACKGROUND NOT ONLY TO THE CARTOONS BUT TO THE TURBULENT
PERIOD AS WELL.
IS THE POLICE FORCED BRIBED? (THE
INDEPENDENT, JUNE 9, 1917)
• IN 1917 A MSYTERIOUS INFORMATION NAME PEDRO CHUA WROTE
THE PHILIPPINES FREE PRESS ALLEGING THAT SENIOR POLICE WERE
ACCEPTING BRIBES FROM CHINESE GAMBLING HOUSES IN BINONDO
AND QUIAPO DISTRICS.
• DESPITE THE FREE PRESS RETREAT VICENTE SOTTO’S INDEPENDENT
INSISTED, IN THIS EDITORIAL CARTOON, THAT CHUA CHARGES WERE
ACCURATE.
• SEVERAL TIMES A YEAR, CARTOON SHOWED THE MANILA POLICE
PROTECTING GAMBLING CLUBS OR FAILING TO BREAK UP THE CITY’S
CRIMINAL GANGS.
• THE CARTOONIST, FERNANDO AMORSOLO, GIVES THE ILLUSTRATION
HIS USUAL RACIST EDGE.
• ALTHOUGH AMORSOLO WAS MORE EXTREME THAN MOST,
CARTOONIST OFTEN SHOWED CHINESE CORRUPTORS OR OPIUM
SMUGGLERS IN A SIMILARLY RACIST MANNER.
NEW BIRD OF PREY (THE
INDEPENDENT, 17 JANUARY 1920)

• EVENTUALLY THE PROTESTS REACHED MALACAÑG PALACE AND

GOVERNOR GENERAL FRANCIS B. HARRISON MADE A TENTATIVE
MOVE TOWARDS REFORM.
• IN A LETTER TO A TO THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE CIVIL SERVICE,
THE GOVERNOR DENOUNCED "THE RAPACIOUS DEMANDS OF THE
LANDLORDS" HE SUGGESTED PASSAGE OF A BILL WHICH SET RENTS
AT 12 PERCENT OF ASSESSED VALUE OF THE PROPERTY.
• THE CARTOON'S CAPTION "NEW BIRD OF PREY" IS AN ALLUSION TO
THE MOST FAMOUS LIBEL CASE IN THE HISTORY OF PHILIPPINE
JOURNALISM. IN 1908 THE NATIONALIST WEEKLY EL RENACIMIENTO
PUBLISHED AN EDITORIAL TITLED AVEX DE RAPINA (BIRDS OF PREY)
WHICH ATTACKED THE PHILIPPINES COMMISSION'S
WHILE THE PRIEST LIVES ALONE IN A
BIG BUILDING (THE INDEPENDENT
MAY 1, 1920)

• LIKE MANY NATIONALIST OF HIS DAY, VICENTE

SOTTO, THE PUBLISHER OF THE INDEPENDENT,
NEVER MISSED A CHANCE TO ATTACK THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH.
WHILE THE PRIEST LIVES ALONE IN A BIG
BUILDING (THE INDEPENDENT MAY 1, 1920)

• THE CHURCH ORIGINALLY ACQUIRED THE LAND SHOWN IN

THIS CARTOON DURING THE MID-19 CENTURY FROM
ALEJANDRO ROCES, WHOSE DESCENDANTS BECAME
PUBLISHERS OF THE MANILA TIMES.
Where the Mosquito Is King, Donde El Mosquito Es
Rey (Free Press, 16 April 1921)
• Built on a swamp and ringed with streams and ponds Manila is natural breeding
ground for malarial mosquitos. During the 19th century, Spanish public health
procedures were grossly inadequate to the imperatives of Manila's site, and the
Americans found the city of cesspool of ill health when they occupied it in 1898.
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" "Libertad, Igualdad,
Fraternidad" (Philippines Free Press, Feb. 12, 1921),
• THE PHILIPPINE ASSEMBLY PASSED A LOW AUTHORIZING ALL
LEGISLATORS, ACTIVE OR RETIRED, TO BEAR FIREARMS. THE MANILA
PRESS WAS OUTRAGED, BUT THE LEGISLATORS IGNORED THE
OPPOSITION AND PROMULGATED THE LOW OVER THE SCREAMS OF
PROTEST.
• "IT MATTERS NOT THAT OF LATE THE DIRECTOR CONSTABULARY OF
HAS BEEN URGING GREATER AND GREATER RESTRICTIONS OF THE
LICENSE TO CARRY ARMS... ALL THAT MATTERS...IS THAT THE
OFFICIAL HAS A CHANCE TO SHOW THAT HE IS SOMEBODY AND
MUST BE RESPECTED."
PHILIPPINES FREE PRESS
THE RETURNING STUDENT-EL ESTUDIANTE
VUELVE (PHILIPPINE FREE PRESS, APRIL 6, 1929)
• When Manila emerged as the national center for university education
during the 1920s, the annual March ritual of the city wise student
returning home to his village was played out in barrios across the
archipelago.
• "Is it any wonder that, under the incense of such flattery, he feels
himself a superior being, a conquering hero? Nor let us blame him.
THE RETURNING OF THE STUDENT
Brothers Under the Skin-Hermanos En El Fondo
(Philippines Free Press, June 18, 1938)

• As sodal conflict and socialist ideology spread in

Central Luzon during the 1930s the Free Press was
forced to deal with social substance instead of
bucolic trivia in its provincial reportage.
Brothers Under the Skin-Hermanos En El Fondo
(Philippines Free Press, June 18, 1938)
The Loyalty of the
Filipinos (The
Independent, 14 April
1917
World War I
sparked an outburst
of pro-American
loyalty among
Filipinos and
transformed Uncle
Sam's media image.
The Latest-Lo Ultimo (Philippines Free Press,
October 14, 1933)
• Throughout 1933 the battle over acceptance or rejection of the Hare-
Hawes Cutting independence bill continued to divide Philippine
politics.
• As in The Latest, the Philippine Legislature, now under his control,
voted to reject the H-H-C Bill in October 1933.
• It could have been a fatal victory.
• For unless Quezon accomplished the near impossible and return from
Washington with a better bill, he would be rejected by a people angry
at being denied their independence.
The Latest-Lo Ultimo (Philippines Free
Press, October 14, 1933)
 CONTENT PRESENTATION AND
ANALYSIS
• THE PRESENTATION VARIES FORM
• THE VICTIMS ARE PRESENTED IN A BAD STORY STATE TO CONVEY
SYMPATHY FOR THE READERS
• THE ARTISTS, USING THE CARTOONS, ILLUSTRATES NOT JUST THEIR
OPINIONS, BUT BROAD IMAGE OF THE PHILIPPINES UNDER THE US.
• THE DRASTIC INTRODUCTION OF DEMOCRACY TO A NATION NOT
PROPERLY ORIENTED ABOUT IT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES ARE FAR
FROM IDEAS. THUS, IT USHERED FREE PRESS.
THE RELEVANCE AND CONTRIBUTION
• POLITICAL CARTOONS ARE AN INTEGRAL COMPONENT IN THE
FRAMEWORK OF POLITICAL JOURNALISM.
• CARTOONS ARE A UNIQUE FORM OF JOURNALISM FORMS OF
COMMUNICATION.
• THEY EXPLAIN AND EXPLORE STORIES IN MANNERS THAT ARTICLES
CANNOT.
• THE IMAGES CAN CAST A POWERFUL INTERPRETATION ON THE DAY’S
NEWS.
THE GREAT THING ABOUT A POLITICAL
CARTOON IS THAT IT SUMS UP THE STAGE
OF PLAY AT ANY MOMET IN POLITICS. IT’S
CLEVER, FUNNY, AMUSING, IT INFORMS
AND ENTERTAINS US. IT DOES ALL THE
THINGS IN ONE DRAWING THAT A
NEWSPAPER DOES THROUGHTOUT ALL OF
ITS PAGES.