Political cartoons

the PCIJ blog has a podcast on an effort to recognizing Filipino cartoonists. I’m a big fan of editorial cartoons, which have a rich history in our country, and even abroad: a Filipino political cartoonist who has gained fame overseas is Corky Trinidad.

It’s a pity that the three most important books on the subject are out of print, although you see them from time to time in the bookstores:

Philippine cartoons: Political caricature of the American era, 1900-1941 by Alfred McCoy;
Medals and shoes: Political cartoons of the times of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, 1965-1992 by Alfredo and Irene Roces;
Cartoon history of the Republic by E.Z. Izon, who was the editorial cartoonist of the Philippines Free Press from the late 1930s to the late 1990s. I was always a deep admirer of Mr. Izon: one of the treats about working for the Free Press was seeing my editorials accompanied by his cartoons. At one point, Mr. Locsin told me I had better seek out Mr. Izon and do a profile on him, as he was getting quite on in years. I procrastinated a week or two, and all of a sudden, Mr. Izon died. Here’s a weekend sampling of his work.
The Roxas-Osmeña presidential race, front page editorial cartoon for the
Philippines Free Press by the late E.Z. Izon

Roxas-Osmeña Race

Charter Change, 1967 by the late E.Z. Izon
Cha-Cha

Marcos, ’71 a Philippines Free Press editorial cartoon by the late E.Z. Izon
Marcos 71-1

Tuta, 1972 by the late E.Z. Izon
Tuta-Forever

Constitutional Convention, 1972, by the late E.Z. Izon
Con-Con

Joe de V’s Money, 1997 by E.Z, Izon
Joe-De-V's-Money

Technorati Tags: , ,

Avatar
Manuel L. Quezon III.

17 thoughts on “Political cartoons

  1. Great idea to reprint those cartoons. They speak louder than words. History repeats itself, indeed. And politicians don’t seem to learn lessons from it.

    “Favila’s Folly”:
    Speaking of history, Trade Secretary Peter Favila has hardly warmed his seat but he has already earned his place in history. He was quoted as saying ‘there are enough jobs available but Filipinos are so choosy’. That quote will go down in history as one of the most unfeeling and ignorant quotes ever uttered by a government official.

    Remember these Infamous Quotes?
     “We are a rich country pretending to be poor.”
     “What are we in power for.”
     “The rich don’t steal.”

  2. Mlq3,

    The political cartoon ‘Charter Change, 1967 by the late E.Z. Izon’ best represents JdV’s ambition to shift from one form of government to the next “muddled autocracy”.

  3. The people who were in the past willing to give Marcos the benefit of the doubt to make our country better thru Martial Rule didn’t have any inkling that Marcos wanted to stay in power forever.

    People who are willing to give Gloria Arroyo a chance to make the Philippines better now, might be missing this point in history. Her strong-arm tactics shows that she’s capable of Marcosian acts.

  4. Priceless. Ageless. Thanks Manolo!
    Sana they’re picked up by “mainstream media” so more people can will be amused, if not be elucidated. Heaven knows we need at least one of those.

  5. Pol Medina Jr, creator Pugad Baboy also has some good editorial cartoons that appeared in the PDI during Ramos’ term.

    The cartoons above has not lost their meanings, kudos!

  6. Brought back memories, Marcos Martial Law; now Gloria Martian Law, not Martial, worse – an alien invasion, an E.T.(Extreme Trapos) invasion lead by Supreme Trapos GMA,JdV,FVR – TM Team (Trapos to the Max) Trapo Hall of Famers.

  7. Great idea posting Political Cartoons, MLQ3!

    How about another great idea:

    “Political Cartoon Exhibit” at Glorietta featuring works of Famous Filipino Cartoon Artists: Corky, E.Z., Nonoy, etal.

    On-the-Spot Activities:
    Young,budding ‘political’ cartoonists-at-work ,
    Pol-Cartoon-Printed T-Shirts and Frame-able Prints on sale to raise org funds,
    Select and print/custom computerized shirt printing service, etc.

    (Cartoons is an apt art genre for B&W, effective medium for the message/subject, the target market and milieu/situation , the mall exhibit is timely, summer is peak malling season specially weekends; good B&W venue, mall exhibit tours, very commercially viable too, off-from-school students/youth is a huge market, the product custom T-Shirt print is fad, the theme is hot , good effective way of awareness campaign for the youth, )

  8. Manolo,
    Why don’t you set up a “political cartoonists’ blogsite” and invite budding political cartoonists to send in their works? Or maybe they can just send their entries to this blogsite? I think this would be a hit.

    I’ve always wanted to be a political cartoonist to be able to express my views but my drawing skills are nada, zilch.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.