CRITICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY

ALFRED McCOY’S PHILIPPINE CARTOONS: POLITICAL CARICATURE OF AMERICAN

ERA 1900-1941

Philippine Cartoons: Political Caricatures of the American Era is a book

authored by Alfred William McCoy, an American professor of history and award-
winning writer who dedicated his professional career on the research of Southeast
Asian history, especially that of the Philippines, as well as the study of US Foreign
Policy. One of his dissertations tackled the factional conflict in the colonial
economy of Iloilo, Philippines from 1937 to 1955. His interest in Filipino history
allowed him to master the Hiligaynon dialect and understand the political
situation, not just of the region of Iloilo, but of the entire country.

Philippine Cartoons is a compilation of 377 editorial cartoons and

caricatures made by various Filipino artists that tackle the situation during the
American occupation in the Philippines. Dated from 1900 to 1941, each individual
caricature recorded national attitudes toward the coming of the Americans as
well as the changing mores and times.

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 mores 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. Artist-writer Alfredo Roces,
who designed the book, contributes an essay on Philippine graphic satire of the
period.

Some of the cartoons presented the condition of Filipino farmers on the

hands of American tenants who self-owned the lands of the laborers and
imposed unbearable and unjust taxes on them. The cartoons also compared the
job situation of a Filipino and an American by portraying unequal salaries despite
having the same nature of work, which highlighted racial discrimination in terms
of work condition, wages, job opportunities, and career positions.

Aside from that, the caricatures also depicted Americans as controlling and
enslaving people by taking over the insular civil service and making Filipinos do
most of the work for their own benefit, paying off authorities for their personal
security, and demanding highest respects from the Filipinos. From here, growing
corruption was shown to be taking over the political processes in the Philippines.
Moreover, they exemplified American imperialism as the primary reason for the
war between Muslim and Christian Filipinos in Mindanao and for other feuds
among Filipino people who should have been supporting one another in fighting
Americans to regain their independence.

McCoy was able to provide a comprehensive background for each

caricature to give readers details of the turbulent period the Filipinos have
experienced under the hands of the Americans. With the help Alfredo Roces, who
designed the book and contributed an essay on Philippine graphic satire during
the American era, Alfred McCoy was able to publish Philippine Cartoons as a
secondary source of different political caricatures drawn during the said period.
These caricatures clarify historical information and serve as eye-openers to the
realities experienced by the people under the American occupation.

The book reflected anti-American sentiments in addition to the

condemnation of the ruling class which give us a glimpse of the Philippine society
of the past, visualize its historical politics, and appreciate the representations of
perceptions of the Filipinos of that era. Later, political cartoons like these would
become relevant in presenting the current situation of the country, just like how
they served as primers for engaging the people in the prevailing opinions at that
time.