A GLANCE

A GLANCE AT
AT SELECTED
SELECTED
PHILIPPINE POLITICAL
PHILIPPINE POLITICAL
CARICATURES
CARICATURES
 Alfred
McCoy’s
PHILIPPINE
CARTOONS:
POLITICAL CARICATURE
OF THE AMERICAN ERA
(1900-1941)
POLITICAL CARTOONS &
CARICATURE
A RECENT ART FORM, WHICH
VEERED AWAY FROM THE
CLASSICAL ART BY EXAGGERATING
HUMAN FEATURES AND POKING
FUN AT ITS SUBJECTS.
POLITICAL CARTOONS &
CARICATURE
SUCH ART GENRE AND TECHNIQUE
BECAME A PART OF THE PRINT MEDIA AS
FORM OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL
COMMENTARY, WHICH USUALLY
TARGETS PERSONS OF POWER AND
AUTHORITY.

CARTOONS BECAME AN EFFECTIVE

TOOL OF PUBLICIZING OPINIONS
THROUGH HEAVY USE OF SYMBOLISM.
PHILIPPINE CARTOONS:
POLITICAL CARICATURE OF
POLITICAL CARICATURE OF THE AMERICAN ERA
THE AMERICAN ERA

Alfred McCoy TOGETHER

WITH ALFREDO ROCES, COMPILED
POLITICAL CARTOONS PUBLISHED IN
NEWSPAPER DAILIES AND PERIODICALS
IN THE AFOREMENTIONED TIME PERIOD
(1900-1941)
 FIRST EXAMPLE WAS PUBLISHED
IN
THE INDEPENDENT ON MAY 20,
1916.

The cartoon shows a politician from Tondo, named

Dr. Santos passing his crown to his brother-in-law,
Dr. Barcelona. A Filipino guy (as depicted wearing
salakot and barong tagalog) was trying to stop Santos,
telling the latter to stop giving Barcelona the crown
because it is not his to begin with. This was publiced in
The Independent ,May 20,1916.
The second cartoon was also published
by the independent on 16th of june
1917.

This was drawn by Fernando Amorsolo and was aimed as a

commentary to the workings of Manila Police at that period. Here,
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, labelled as Juan de la Cruz was
grabbing the officer, telling him to leave the small-time
pickpockets and thieves and to turn at the great thieves instead.
He was pointing to huge warehouses containing bulks of rice, milk
and grocery products.
 The third 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.
 The fourth cartoon depicts a cinema.

A blown-up police officer was at the screen saying that

couples are not allowed to neck and make love in the
theatre. Two youngsters looked horrified while an older
couple seemed amused.
 This was published by the independent
on 27th of November 1915.

Here, we see the caricature of Uncle Sam riding a chariot pulled by

Filipinos wearing school uniforms. The Filipino boys were carrying
American objects like baseball bats, whiskey and boxing gloves.
McCoy says that this cartoon was based on an event in 1907 when
William Howard Taft was brought to the Manila pier riding a
chariot pulled by students of Liceo de Manila. Such was
condemned by the nationalists at that time.
 The last cartoon was published by lipang
kalabaw on 24th of august 1907.

In this picture we see Uncle Sam rationing porridge to the

politicians and members of the Progresista Party (sometimes
known as the Federalista Party) while members of the Nacionalista
Party look on and wait for their turn. This cartoon depicts the
patronage of the United States being coveted by the politicians
from either of the party.
ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL CARICATURES
DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD

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 drastically introduced democracy to the
nascent nation and the consequences were far from ideal.
It was the American period that Filipinos were introduced
to different manifestations of modernity like healthcare,
modern transportation, and media. This ushered in a more
open and freer press.
ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL CARICATURES
DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD

The upper principalia class experienced

economic prosperity with the opening up of the
Philippine economy to the United States but the
majority if the poor Filipino remained poor,
desperate and victims of state repression.
ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL CARICATURES
DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD

The selected cartoons illustrate 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.
ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL CARICATURES
DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD

In the area of politics, we see the price that

Filipinos paid for the democracy modelled after
the Americans. (1) seems that Filipino
politicians at that time did not understand well
enough the essence of democracy and the
accompanying democratic institutions and
processes. Depicted in the rising dynastic
ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL CARICATURES
DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD

Patronage also 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.The presence of Uncle Sam who
represent the U.S. provided dole-outs for Federalista
then Nationalista politicians .
ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL CARICATURES
DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD

The transition from a catholic-centered,

Spanish-Filipino society to an imperial
American-assimilated one, and its
complications, were also depicted in the
cartoons.
ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL CARICATURES
DURING THE AMERICAN PERIOD

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.
THANK YOU!