PHILIPPINE CARICATURE

(POLITICAL CARICATURES OF THE AMERICAN ERA)

THE AUTHOR
ALFRED W. MCCOY
Born in 1945, Massachussets, USA
Dr. Alfred W. McCoy is a professor of the South East Asian
History at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he
also serves as director of the SE Asian Studies. He has spent
the past thirty years writing about the Southeast Asian
History and Politics. After earning his Ph.D. In SE Asian
History at Yale, his Writings has focused on two topics:
Philippine Political History and Global Opium Trafficking with
the Philippines remaining to be his major focus of research.
The document
1900-41
Philippine political cartoons gained full expression during the
American era. Filipino artists recorded national attitudes toward the
coming of the Americans as well as the changing mored and times
While the 377 cartoons compiled in this book speak for themselves,
historian Alfred McCoy’s extensive research in Philippine and
American archives provides a comprehensive background not only to
the cartoons but to the turbulent period as well. Alfredo Roces, who
designed the book, contributes an essay on Philippine graphic satire
of the period.
The document
ACHIEVEMENTS
 PHILIPPINE CATHOLIC MASS MEDIA
AWARD.

 BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR 1985.

 PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

FOR HISTORY, 1986.

 GINTONG AKLAT AWARD (MANILA).

 SPECIAL CITATION FOR HISTORY, 1987.

DEFINITION OF TERMS
Caricatures Aparcero
A picture, “sharecropping”
description, or A type of
imitation of a farming in which
person in which families rent
certain striking small plots of
charateristics are land from a
exaggerated in landowner in
order to create a return for a Imperialism
comic or portion of their The policy of extending the
grotesque effect crop, to be given rule or authrority of an empire
to the or nation over foreign
landowner at the countries, or of acquiring and
end of each year. holding colonies and
Homesteaders dependencies. Advocacy of
imperial or sovereign interests
Someone who settles lawfully
over the interests of the
on government land with the
dependent states.
intent to acquire title to it.
While the Priest lives alone in a
big building...
Like many nationalist of his day, Vicente Sotto, the publisher of
INDEPENDENT, never missed the chance to attack the catholic
church.

In 1906, the Philippine Supreme Court had ruled that the Roman
Catholic Church was the legal owner of all disputed properties,
thus stripping the nationalistic Aglipayan Church of the properties
it had occupied right after the revolution.
 Is the Police Force Bribed?...

Depicts the first of Manila’s periodic polic scandals. The author,

Fernando Amorsolo, gives the the illustration a usual racist edge.

While the corrupt police force is shown as a normal filipino

policemen, the chinese are caricaturated as emaciated, leering
creatures more rodent than human.
 New bird of prey...

The cartoon’s caption “New Bird of Prey” is an allusion to the most

famous libel case in the history of Philippine Journalism
 Where the Mosquito is King...

Manila at the time, was a natural breeding ground for malarial

mosquitos, as it is built on a swamp and ringed with streams and
ponds. The board of health distributed millions of doses of quinine
and eliminated mosquito breeding grounds by filling up the
stagnant water holes or by spraying them with petroleum.
 Liberty, Equality, Fraternity...

The Philippine Assembly passed a law authorizing all legislators,

active or retired, to bear firearms. The Manila press was outraged,
but the legislators ignored the opposition and promulgated the
laws over the screams of protest.
Why the “Aparcero” Rebels...

It shows the form of landlord usury used to strip tenant farmers

from their rightful share of harvest.
 A new wrinkle in the art of
thieving...
This show city capitalist using the Torrens title process, which
required relinquishment of customary claims to issue titles, to grab
lands in Nueva Ecija and other Central Luzon provinces.
Whats going to be done about
it?...
A sudden and unexpected credit crisis threatens the Negros Sugar
crop and planters responded by lobbying Governor-General Francis
B. Harrison for relief. Fueled by free access to the american sugar
market and liberal credit from the newly established Philippine
National Bank, the Negros sugar industry grew rapidly during
World War 1.
 Brothers under the skin

This work urges Filipinos to end social conflict and deal with each
other fairly.
 Equal work, Unequal salary,
why?...
When filipinos began winning civil service appointments after 1913,
they found themselves facing serious discrimination in both wages
and positions.

The liberal Governor General Francis B. Harrison began the

“Filipinization” of civil service.
 American Worker – Filipino
Worker
This illustration obviously refers to the fundamental inequality of
the difference in wages and working conditions between the two
countries.
The Elections Before and After

After only 15 years of party politics, the corruption of the political

process had become apparent by the early 1920’s.
 Taxation

This cartoon published in 1928 illustrates the burden of a person

bearing crushing loads of taxes and jobholders.
 The loyalty of the Filipinos...

The loyalty of the Filipinos was published on april 14, 1917 only ten
days after the US Congress declared war on Germany and America
entered the conflict. The artist, Fernando Amorsolo draws a wise,
handsome, Uncle Sam leading little Juan, loyal and smiling on the
road to war.
 RELEVANCE
In the Philippines, the presence of political cartoons has been seen as early as the publication of Kalayaan
and La Solidaridad. Accounts pointed that the Philippine press has had a love-hate relationship with the political
cartoons as the only published book on Philippine cartoons was in 1985. The book of McCoy and Roces (1986)
was the first one to legitimize cartoons as a source of Filipino thoughts and views. Although only covering the
early american period through the commonwealth, it reflected on two cartoon themes; anti-American
sentiments and the condemnation of the ruling class.
Political cartoons serve as triggers for engaging in prevailing opinions during that time. It also becomes a
current representation of the current condition of our country as it lets us see the problem.
Furthermore, the current generation could have a vivid glimpse of the past Philippine society through these
cartoons as the issues that arose during that time is clearly represented in each illustration.
Finally, through the use of political cartoons, people get to visualize politics and appreciate the
representations which are within their worldview.