ent at meen Philippine Political Caricature in Alfred McCoy's Philippine Cartoons: Political Caricat, the American Era (1900-1941) ee Political cartoons and caricature are a rather recent art form, which veered away from the classical art by exaggerating human features and poking fun at its subjects. Such art genre and technique became a part of the print media as a 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, which is different from a verbose written editorial and opinion pieces. The unique way that a caricature represents opinion and captures the audience’s imagination is reason enough for historians to examine these political cartoons. Commentaries in mass media inevitably shape public opinion and such kind of opinion is worthy of historical examination. In his book Philippine Cartoons: Political Caricature of the American Era (1900-1941), Alfred McCoy, together with Alfredo Roces, compiled political cartoons published in newspaper dailies and periodicals in the aforementioned time period. For this part, we are going to look at selected cartoons and explain the context of each one. The first example shown above 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.The second cartoon was also published by The Independent on 16 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, labeled 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. ay War at agaist thé Specaistors! Rene ar Cone Hi eA “NOME oo ese sped 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.This 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 theater. Two youngsters looked horrified while an older couple seemed amused. ‘Flaming Youth” Nuestra.“ Ardie atud” The next cartoon was published by The Independent on 27 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, in his caption to the said cartoon, 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. am . Cs a ¥@. | YZ eo oe)The last cartoon was published by Lipang Kalabaw on 24 August 1907. In the picture, we can 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 politicians from either of the party. EL TURNO DE LOS PARTIDOS. 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. Aside from this, it was also during 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. The post-independence and the post-Filipino-American period in the Philippines were experienced differently by Filipinos coming from different classes. The upper principalia class experienced economic prosperity with the opening up of the Philippine economy to the United States but the majority of the poor Filipino remained poor, desperate, and victims of state repression. 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 politics under the United States. In the arena ofolitics, for example, we see the price that Filipinos paid for the democracy modeled after the Americans. First, it seemed that the Filipino politiciang at that time did not understand well enough the essence of democracy and the accompanying democratic institutions and processes, This can be seen in the rising dynastic politics in Tondo as depicted in the cartoon published by The Independent. 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. This was depicted in the cartoon where the United States, represented by Uncle Sam, provided dole outs for members of the Federalista while the Nacionalista politicians looked on and waited for their turn. Thus, the essence of competing political parties to enforce choices among the voters was cancelled out. The problem continues up to the present where politicians transfer from one party to another depending on which party was powerful in specific periods of time. The transition from a Catholic-centered, Spanish-Filipino society to an imperial American-assimilated one, and its complications, were also depicted in the cartoons. One example is the unprecedented increase of motorized vehicles in the city. Automobiles became a popular mode of transportation in the city and led to the emergence of taxis. However, the laws and policy implementation was mediocre. This resulted in the increasing colorum and unlicensed vehicles transporting people around the city. The rules governing the issuance of driver's license was loose and traffic police could not be bothered by rampant violations of traffic rules. This is a direct consequence of the drastic urbanization of the Philippine society. Another example is what McCoy called the “sexual revolution” that occurred in the 1930s. Young people, as early as that period, disturbed the conservative Filipino mindset by engaging in daring sexual activities in public spaces like cinemas. Here, we can see how that period was the meeting point between the conservative past and the liberated future of the Philippines. 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. For example, a cartoon depicted how police authorities oppress petty Filipino criminals while turning a blind eye on hoarders who monopolize goods in their huge warehouses (presumably Chinese merchants). The other cartoon depicts how Americans controlled Filipinos through seemingly harmless American objects. By controlling their consciousness and mentality, Americans got to control and subjugate Filipinos.