ANALYSIS OF SELECTED

PHILIPPINE POLITICAL  
CARICATURES DURING THE
AMERICAN ERA (1900-1941)
Presented by:
Carpio, Winona Louise Anne
 WHAT ARE
POLITICAL CARTOONS/CARICATURES?

⮚ An art form characterized by exaggerating

human features and poking fun at its subjects
⮚ Part of the print media as a form of social
and political commentary
⮚ Usually about people of power and authority
⮚ Commonly found on written editorial and
opinion pieces
WHAT ROLE DID POLITICAL
CARICATURES PLAYED
DURING THE AMERICAN ERA
AND UP TO PRESENT?
⮚ Cartoons became an effective tool of publicizing
opinions through heavy use of symbolism which is
different from a verbose
⮚ Philippine Political Cartoons gained full expression
during the American era (1900-1941)
⮚ Artists expressed national attitudes towards the
Americans' arrival as well as the changes that came
with it
⮚ Their content, form, and functions provide viewers
with a look at how lives were lived on the era they
represent
 PHILIPPINE CARTOONS (1985)
⮚ Compiled and edited by Dr. Alfred W.
Mccoy and Alredo R. Roces
 ABOUT THE AUTHORS
❖ Dr. Alfred W. Mccoy is an
American historian and
educator
❖ Born June 08, 1945
❖ Columbia and Yale
University
❖ Spent his life writing about
politics & history especially
of Southeast Asia its opium
trade
❖ Currently a professor of
History at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison
 ABOUT THE AUTHORS
❖ Alfredo Reyes Roces is
a Filipino artist and
author
❖ April 29, 1932
❖ University of Notre
Dame
❖ Contributed on the
essays on
Philippine  graphic satire
of the American period
 ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Dr. Alfred Mccoy: Alfredo Roces:
• Policing America's empire : • Looking for Liling (1992)
the United States, the • Cultureshock! Philippines
Philippines, and the rise of • Adios Patria Adorada the
the surveillance state Ilustrado as Filipino, the
(2009) Filipino as Ilustrado (2006)
• Closer than brothers : • Philippine Cartoons (1985)
manhood at the Philippine
Military Academy (1999)
• Philippine Cartoons (1985)
• Anarchy of Families (1994)
BACKGROUND OF THE MATERIAL
 BACKGROUND OF THE MATERIAL
❑ Published 1985
❑ 377 cartoons
❑ Although Roces' caricatures speak for themselves, Mccoy's
extensive research about the history of Philippines and
America's relationship further drives the point home
AWARDS:
▪ PHILIPPINE CATHOLIC MASS MEDIA AWARD BEST BOOK OF
THE YEAR FOR 1985
▪ PH NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR HISTORY 1986
▪ GINTONG AKLAT AWARD 
▪ SPECIAL CITATION FOR HISTORY 1987
 SOURCES OF MATERIAL
• Lipang/Lipag  Kalabaw 
• Magazine publication that ran from 1907-1947 through
different incarnations:
• Weekly owned,edited by Lope K. Santos 1907-1909, with
caricatures drawn by Jorge Pineda(first version struck hard at
its political targets, which struck back even harder, forcing the
magazine to shut down)
• Revived in 1922 as Bagong Lipang Kalabaw, promising to be
gentler in its tone--but zeroed in on Governor-General Leonard
Wood,  also closed shop after two years following a libel suit. 
•  Last and supposedly most tepid version came out in 1947.(The
“lipa” refers to a big-leafed tree.)
 SOURCES OF MATERIAL

• The Independent
• British newspaper
established in 1986
PHILIPPINE CARICATURES
DURING THE AMERICAN ERA
(1900-1941)
TITLE STYLE
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SA LOOB NG SABUNGAN/ THE DOCTOR IS BUSY

 SA LOOB NG SABUNGAN/ THE
DOCTOR IS BUSY
• Published in Lipag Kalabaw October 10, 1908
• Context: "  The Doctor is busy and so refuses
to see a dying patient. In the midst of tying the
talons on his fighting cock, the doctor, is
approached by a peasant who pleads: "My
wife is dying, señor, save her!" To this plea the
fat doctor, in hat with religious scapulary about
his neck, replies:"Be quiet. You are bothering
me. Don't you see that I am busy?"
 SA LOOB NG SABUNGAN/
THE DOCTOR IS BUSY
Aside from its commentary on the Filipino
passion for gambling, the cartoon satirizes
the haughty, unsymapthetic manner of
Filipino doctors who, if this is any sample,
felt that their medical degrees were license
to command respect, not to render service.
 ANALYSIS
• The cartoon comments on the unjust and parlous state of
Philippine healthcare system in 1907-08.A lot of Filipinos
died of cholera and other diseases during 1902-04 (119,
000) 
• The medical profession was glorified, it was acquired as a
means of elevating one's social position or influence rather
than a genuine act of good service to the people.
• Up to current day, some Filipinos still pursue professions in
the medical field for personal agendas like money, position,
and power. Most of them move to foreign countries especially
in America for there their interests will be best served.
 A MASS IS BETTER
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 A MASS IS BETTER
•     Published in Lipag Kalabaw ( October 10, 1908)
• Context: A Mass Is Better mocks both the superstition
of the Filipinos and the influence of the Spanish friars,
particulary among devout women. Evidently frightened
by one of the recurring chlore outbreaks of the period,
the women complain: "The municipal government will
not allow the processions which the Church has
recommended to fight the spread of Cholera." The
priest answers: "Don't worry, my daughters. If
processions are not allowed, then we musthave said
masses. Besides, a mass is more efficacious than ten
processions (and costs less.)"
 ANALYSIS
• Depicts how strongly the Spanish influenced
Filipinos and how superstitions were part of Filipino
culture even then 
• Somehow shows that Filipinos are victims of
misinformation and ignorance when it comes to
healthcare, which isn't there fault because they
were always kept at dark by colonizers who made
sure the Filipino isn't educated enough to assert
power and liberate themselves
• In current time, superstitions specifically religious
ones are still rampant
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BISA NG BULONG/ THE DIRECTOR'S CONFIDANTES

 BISA NG BULONG/ THE
DIRECTOR'S CONFIDANTES
• Published in Lipag Kalabaw (April 25, 1908)
• Context : The Director's Confidantes shows a group of
Filipino medical doctors pleading with Commissioner of
Public health Dr. Victor G. Heiser, who served with distinction
in the islands from 1905 to 1915, 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.
 ANALYSIS
• The incompetency of the healthcare system could be rooted back
to the clear discrimination against Filipino doctors who were
rejected to render their services in their own country. Their service
could've helped lessen the workload so more people could be
tended to.
• Somehow hints that healthcare was practiced as a privilege rather
than a basic right because if only prominent white men were
allowed to practice medicine then that speaks of volumes of who
was also rightfully given medical service first: the rich white man or
the Filipino?
• In current time, healthcare remains a privilege which is shown how
in a state of pandemic, rich people are able to do acquire health
assistance immediately while the ordinary Filipino dies first before
even being given the chance to be diagnosed.
 ANG MGA MAPAPALAD
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 ANG MGA MAPAPALAD
•Published in Lipang Kalabaw (October 31, 1908)
•Context: American corporations won major developments:
Atlantic Gulf and Pacific Company (AG&P) won construction for
an entire new port in manila; a US Navy coaling station at
Sangley point and a marine railway for the Philippine Coast
Guard which had a budget $4.5 million from Filipino taxes. This
outraged Filipinos because their money were being spent on
infrastructure that wasn't even beneficial to their own country.
On the other hand, Manila Electric Road Railway & Light
Company (MERALCO) was the major public utility and largest
American investment in the Philippines back then, MERALCO
established a transit system that charged unjustly.
 ANALYSIS
• Cartoon's image of MERALCO dragging Juan dela Cruz
along by the neck as he vomits pesos from his emaciated
frame, depicts how Filipinos were taking advantage of by
American corporations; as the corporations get richer on the
people's taxes, the Filipino starves.
• Once the opening of the Philippine Assembly in
1907 guaranteed them a political voice, Filipino
nationalists became increasingly concerned with economic
issues.
• Filipino nationalists saw themselves becoming economic
aliens in their own land.
• In current time, companies like MERALCO still treat people
unjustly.
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THERE IS NO DOUBTING THE LESSON

 THERE IS NO DOUBTING THE
LESSON
•Published in The Independent (May 21, 1922)
•Context: During the 1921 tour of the Leonard Wood-Cameron
Forbes mission,several delegations of Ifugao and Igorot
tribesmen from Mountain Province met the mission to declare
their support for acontinuining colonialism. The Indepent
dismissed the delegations as " a handful of wild men and
savages who have not a shadow of any notion of political and
civil liberty or the rights of men." Such opinions weighed
lightly, the paper argued, when balanced against the
demands of 10 million Filipinos for independence.
 ANALYSIS
• The political cartoon reveals that News of the Wood
– Forbes sees Igorots as ignorants in political and civil
matters, that their views are taken lightly, even
though they have proclaimed their support for
American colonialism. This is attributed to social
perceptions towards indigenous peoples that have
not earned any formal education. It's quite ironic
that the Americans are eager to hear the Filipino
people's resistance for independence rather than the
support of the Igorots to American colonialism.
RELEVANCE AND
CONTRIBUTION
RELEVANCE AND CONTRIBUTION

• Nationalism
• Patriotism
• Reflections on the History
• Eye-opener
• Entertaining insights
 RELEVANCE AND CONTRIBUTION

• The future generations will be able to have a glimpse

of the past Philippine society through these cartoons.
• It serves as a study and reference tool for further
generations.
• By using the political cartoons, people will get to
visualize politics and appreciate the representations
which are within their worldview.
• It clarifies historical information.
• Represent the feelings of people way to discuss
political and social issues using art.
 REFERENCES
Educational Websites:
Berongoy, A. (2019) Selected Philippine Political Caricature
on Alfred McCoy’s Philippine.
https://www.scribd.com/presentation/412873318/Selected -
Philippine-Political-Caricature-on-Alfred-McCoy-s-Philippine

Acot, K. (2018) Political Caricatures of American Era.

https://prezi.com/p/ph__5rxnezgp/political-caricatures-of-
american-era/
Blogs/Online Journals:

Dalisay, J. (2018) Penman No. 307: Minding the Magazine (2)

https://penmanila.ph/tag/lipang-kalabaw/

Sumulong, S. (2002) Contemporary Roces Progenies,

Alfredo “Ding” Reyes Roces
http://rocesfamily.com/sm2002/rocesphils/ding.htm
+ Studies:
 de la Paz, C. (n.d) Alfredo Roces: Man of Arts and Letters (First
of Two Parts)
http://www.artesdelasfilipinas.com/archives/185/alfredo-
roces-man-of-arts-and-letters-first-of-two-parts-
ALL THE THANKS AND GOD
BLESS!