IMAGES

OF A
CHANGING
NATION
 PHILIPPINES AND THE U.S
1898 - 1941

In 1898, the United States

declared war on Spain,
ultimately resulting in what
is called the
Treaty of Paris,
in which the Spanish
agreed to give up the
islands of the
Philippines in exchange for
$20,000,000.
The time of American Colonization in the
Archipelago it brought its culture in the
formation of the modern Philippine Republic.
After formative years of American Colonization
Popular American culture was then Assimilated
on the people like:
Beauty contests
Mass circulation
newspapers
Movies
Jazz
 AMERICAN COLONIAL POLICY

Americans created policies for them to ensure the

future for the colony and a formation of a state in
the archipelago means that it had to tighten its grip
to the people
Mass public education, Secular state university
system, and the
widespread use of
the English language
were clearly the
product of
Colonial Policies.
 FREEDOM OF PRESS

They established the Principle of Freedom of

the press or freedom of the media 
Freedom of Press - is the principle that
communication and expression through various
media, including printed and electronic media,
especially published materials, should be
considered a right to be exercised freely. Such
freedom implies the absence of interference
from an overreaching state.
 AMERICA: THE INSPIRATION

Filipino Journalists took inspirations in the

atrocities, issues, and scandals within the
country. They published news articles with
subliminal messaging to their countrymen in
order to unite the country once more against their
new colonizers.
America, gave us Freedom of press however it
was still somehow controlled by their made
constitutions that limited journalism from
publishing news that were deemed “Offensive”
establish a new press censorship.
 CARICATURES OR
EDITORIAL CARTOONING
Are pictures, description, or imitation of a
person in which certain characteristics are
exaggerated in order to create a comic and or
grotesque effect, they are usually seen in
Newspapers to portray a Certain issue or
Opinion.

Stereotypes are formulaic images used to

represent particular groups.
Editorial cartoons are published in a mass
medium, such as a newspapers.
Like written editorials, cartoons have an
educational purpose. They are intended to make
readers think about current political issues.
These have a visual
and verbal vocabulary
that is familiar to
readers.
July 1901
a functioning Filipino press begin
when the U.S Army censorship
ended with the establishment of
civil government.
U.S. Censorship
 EL RENACIMIENTO (REBIRTH)
launched by Rafael Palma
the most influential of the early nationalist
newspapers. It was an integral part of a
remarkable decade of Filipino cultural and
political creativity.
the Manila’s ilustradors used their literary and
legal skills to carry on the nationalist campaigns
under the comparatively liberal American
colonialism.
Filipinos could now publish without prior
censorship, but aced criminal charges for libel if
they offended American sensibilities
 WILLIAM H. TAFT
he used libel and sedition
laws to mute hostility
between two deeply
antagonistic communities
– the Manila Americans
and the Filipino
nationalists.
 Libel – a public and malicious imputation of a crime,
or a vice of defect, real or imaginary, or any act,
omission, condition, status, or circumstance tending
to cause the dishonor, discredit or contempt of a
natural or juridical person, or to blacken the memory
of one who is dead (Art. 353, revised Penal Code)
 Sedition – the Sedition Law of 1901 declared
unlawful any peaceful or overt means such as
speech, printing, publication, and circulation of any
material that encourages the Filipinos to fight
against the American colonial rule in the Philippines.
 4 ENGLISH NEWSPAPER
1. American
2. Freedom
3. Cablenews – focused on
Philippines economic growth
4. The Manila Times
Reflects the views of their readership
the American newspapers were jingoistic and
virulently anti-Filipino
(Soldier-centric papers, viewed the average Filipino
as a non-thinking, perhaps, non-human, savage) 
1904 – Freedom’s editors, Eddie O’Brien and Fred
L. Dorr, were sentenced to 6 month’s imprisonment
for articles charging that Ebnito Legarda, a
member of the Philippine Commission was guilty of
corruption and concubinage.
Juan Mta. Cruz. staged Hindi Aco
Patay at Malabon in May 1903,
drunken U.S soldiers stormed the
stage and wrecked the scenery when
the Katipunan flag was raised.
He was sentenced to two years
imprisonment.
Aurelio Tolentino staged
Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas
at Manila’s Theatre Libertad.
When the character he played
trampled the U.S. Flag,
Americans in the audience rioted
He was convicted with
subversion and sentence to
2 years imprisonment.
Dr. Dominador Gomez
President of radical Union Obrera (trade
union center) and [ublishe or Los Obreros
He was arrested by the U.S regime and
charged with being the head of a secret
society of all rebels and bandits in the
Island.
The U.S regime was
convinced that he was the
real author of the
subversive dramas. He was
convicted on other charges
of contempt and sedition
and serves a long sentence
at hard labor in Old Bilibid
Prison.
FIRST LIBEL SUIT OF THE DECADE

A southern racist who succeed over

William H. Taft, Luke Wright
His administration coincided with a sudden
revival of guerrilla activity in Cavite and
Batangas led by Macario Sakay.
He approved the Constabulary officers to
apply harsh tactics of mass arrest and
concentration camp imprisonment in those
town near areas of guerrilla activity.
 Based on investigation by T. M. Kalaw and editor
Fernando Ma. Guerrerro, El Renacimiento reported
that the Constbulary had confined 1,000 residents
of Bacoor, Cavite into a compound only 400
meters square- on a regime of forced labor and
poor food that sickened many.
 The case became a major test of wills between the
colonial administration and the nationalist
movement.
 In February 9, 1906 Judge Manuel Araullo, ruled
that El Renacimiento was innocent.
 SECOND LIBEL SUIT OF THE DECADE

In October 1908, El Renacimiento ran

an editorial titles as Aves de Rapina
(Birds of Prey), criticizing an anonymous
American official for possessing “the
characteristics of the vulture, the owl,
and the vampire.”
It was a transparent attack upon a man
who had become the very personification
of American exploitation.
 DEAN C. WORCESTER
Secretary of Interior
(1901-1913)
He filed a civil libel suit
claiming P100,000
damages, and the colonial
government indicated the
paper’s publisher Martin
Ocampo and its editor
T.M. Kalaw for criminal
libel.
An American Judge found El Renacimiento
guilty, the entire Manila press responded with
outrage. The American- owned Philippines Free
Press called for Worcester’s immediate
resignation.
In January 1910, the other American judge
hearing the civil suit ruled in favour of
Worcester and ordered the sale of El
Renacimiento’s entire assets to pay damages of
P60,000.
Within months, however, Guerrero and Ocampo
 LA VANGUARDIA
It was establish in the same offices of El
Renacimiento and it survived until World
War II as one of the Manila’s leading
newspapers.
The Philippine press was now well enough
establish to survive even the worst of
colonial repression.
Constabulary system
T. M. KALAW
Launched during the first decade of American
rule, the new weeklies were inspired in part by the
illustrated Manila magazines published by the
Spanish colony in the 1890s.
Although the cartoon format was probably a
product of American influence, Filipino artists
were inclined to a moralism and social
commentary in the Spanish graphic tradition,
evident, for example, in Francisco Goya’s series of
etchings titled Los Caprichos.
Unlike American or British cartoonists who were
usually commercial illustrators, their Filipino
counterparts were often among the leading artists of
their generation seeking survival in a colonial
society with little use for their talents.
In fact, Fernando Amorsolo actually began his career
as the angriest of Manila’s political cartoonists.
he worked as chief cartoonist for Vicente Sotto’s
militant weekly, The Independent. There he
produced some of the most racist and angry
cartoons ever to appear in the pre-war press.
 LIPAG KALABAW
a satirical-political entertainment
weekly Tagalog magazine that
circulated in the Philippines in three
different periods:
1907-1909
1922-1924
1947-1948
Lipag Kalabaw which was launched on 1906 (has
no masthead and whose artists and writers
published under pen names), featured a series of
satiric cartoons and articles, Lipag Kalabaw was a
voice for independent radicals affiliated with the
Nacionalista Party. The opinions of these
cartoonists, which is another form of art aside from
written works, reflect their standard with regards to
societal problems emerging during the American
colonial period, be it either between the Westerners
and Filipinos or among the Filipinos themselves.
Delighted in satirizing American do-goodism and
Filipino parrotism, both in text and cartoon. Lipag
Kalabaw closed because of political pressures after
thirty-three issues. In its second life, begun a month
after its demise, the paper emerged as the only
genuine Filipino satirical magazine, employing a
number of trained artists. Lipag Kalabaw, which
was named after a poisoned ivy-type plant that
leaves a severe rash, was critical enough to suffer
closure again in 1909. Under different names, it
was revived in July 1922 for two years, and in 1949
for less than a year.
 VICENTE SOTTO
Founder of The
Independent
“father of Cebuano letters”
Publisher of a string of
short-lived nationalist
newspapers.
Wrote the first Cebuano
short story, operetta and
drama.
Personal enemy of Nacionalista party’s leader
Sergio Osmeña (often appeared on The
Independent’s cartoons wearing a dress.)
Has radical opinions towards corruption and
compromise of the Nacionalista leadership
His newspapers attacked anything that stood in
the way of fine, just and prosperous Philippines
Convicted of abduction in 1907 but was
pardoned by Governor-General Harrison in 1915.
However, Vicente Sotto remained aloof
from faction or party. Instead, he spent
much of his time to publish articles
regarding the tenancy, urban poverty and
the internal integrity of the nationalist
movement.
 THE INDEPENDENT (1915-1931)

Most militant of the nationalist papers

during its publishing life.
Served as forum for its publisher’s
political crusades
Founded in 1915 by Vicente Sotto
Launched to advocate reform on the
Nacionalista Party
AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM AND
RISE OF MASS LITERACY
Played a role in the growth of Philippine
Press
 
The rise of English Literacy was a key
factor in the growth of mass circulation of
newspapers.
The rise of English Language was reflected in
newspaper circulation statistics:
1905 - entire Filipino audience read Spanish or
Tagalog newspapers and English newspapers
were read by Americans
1935 - publications’ circulations grew enormous
in size and reveals the diversity of the
Philippines.
1939 - the total circulation of all Philippine
publications had grown enormously to 1.4
Million.
 HERE ARE SOME OF THE NOTABLE
PUBLICATIONS OF PHILIPPINE PUBLISHING:

ILLUSTRATED WEEKLIES DAILY NEWSPAPER

Liwayway (Tagalog) Herald (English)

The Monday Mail (English) Mabuhay (Tagalog)

The Philippines Free Press El Debate (Spanish)

(English/Spanish)

Graphic (English) La Vanguardia (Spanish)

 LIPAG KALABAW

A satirical-political entertainment
weekly Tagalog magazine that
circulated in the Philippines in three
different periods: 1907-1909, 1922-
1924, and 1947-1948.
Owned and edited by Lope K. Santos, the Lipag
Kalabaw of 1907-1909 tackled about the
relevant issues of politics, society, and culture
of the day. The caricatures of the famous
personalities of the era made it a very
controversial magazine. According to art
historians, this early Lipag Kalabaw caricatures
were drawn by Jorge Pineda. The magazine
folded in 1909, as a result of pressure from the
government.
DEFINITION OF TERMS

Political consciousness – the politics of

consciousness. Consciousness typically refers to
the idea of a being who is self-aware.
Fecund – fruitful in offspring or vegetation
Graphic symbol – a written symbol that is used
to represent speech
Salakot – a traditional wide-rimmed hat from the
Philippines. It is usually made of either rattan,
reeds, or bamboo, and is known as the native
hat, one of the traditional hats worn in the
country.
EXPLANATION ABOUT THE PICTURE

The picture portrays the Philippine-American

relationship. The Americans are represented by
the man in the suit. He is very good at dancing
which means that he can easily manipulate the
person he is dancing with. The girl, on the other
hand, looks innocent. She is led by the man as
they danced. Americans are good at
manipulating, while we, Filipinos, just follow
them.
EXPLANATION ABOUT THE TEXT

The Philippines merged with America for

them to be protected by the Americans,
even though we had been conquered by
them. The Americans built schools in the
Philippines to educated not just the
wealthy.
Unlike the other European powers which demanded,
above all else, political passivity from the colonized,
American required that Filipino elite play an active role
in the colonization of their own country. After crushing
first Philippine Republic, the Americans then hinted at
a promise of eventual independence if and when the
Filipinos proved themselves capable of self
government. Although the standards of such judgement
were left vague, it is generally understood that the
Filipinos could prove themselves ready by suppressing
all resistance, cooperating with American colonials,
raising the educational standards and learning the
administration of their affairs.
Over a period of 35 years, there was a
progressive extension of political power to
Filipinos: municipal elections in 1901,
provincial in 1902; lower-house Assembly
in 1907; Senate in 1916; and
Commonwealth presidency in 1935.
Similarly, Filipinos comprised 49% of the
civil service in 1903, 71% in 1913, and
nearly 100% by 1928.
The Philippines moved forward towards
independence, starting and stalling, in cycles
usually lasting about a decade each. Under the
administration of the Republicans, more and
less conservative, from 1901 to 1912, the
Filipinos won few concessions and had to
struggle for every advance. The election of
Democratic President Woodrow Wilson in 1912
brought the appointment of the liberal
Government-General Francis B. Harisson and
rapid surge of Filipinization.
By close of Harrison administration in 1921,
Filipino leaders had gained "de facto" autonomy
over most of government and much of the economy.
However, using the mismanagement of the
Philippine National Bank and near collapse of
economy as pretext, a series of conservative
Republican governors blocked new Filipino initiative
from 1921 until 1932. With the election of
Democratic-controlled Congress passed legislation
providing for establishment of a Philippine
Commonwealth in 1935 as first step in a 10-year
transition to full independence.
The American system of colonial democracy
thus required that Filipinos from political
parties to contest elections and negotiate with
the US government in Manila and Washington.
Filipino politics during the colonial era is
dominated by two political parties: the
Federalista Party, which initially advocated US
statehood for Philippines and the Nacionalista
Party which initially favored immediate and
complete independence.
In power from 1900 to 1906, the Federalista advocated
a lasting American relationship and were rewarded with
substantial US patronage. In permanent opposition after
their crushing defeat in the 1907 Assembly elections,
the Federalista Party and its successors, the Progresista
and latet Democrata Parties, attacked the ruling
Nacionalistas for their collaboration with the America.
Similarly, out of power until 1907, Nacionalistas
demanded independence and excoriated the
Federalistas for their collaboration. Once in power after
1907, Nacionalistas leaders grew comfortable with
American patronage and favored a long, 15-or-25 delay
until independence.
Under this system of collaborative colonialism, America
and Filipino leaders practiced a politics of mutual
manipulation. Senior U.S. officials were, for the most
part, careerist more interested in advancement in
America than progress for the Philippines.
After Taft’s brilliant rise from judicial obscurity to the
U.S presidency via Malacañang Palace, the Philippines
became a recognized stepping stone to higher office for
ambitious Americans.
The patrician Governor Taft (1901-04) found the greates
rapport with Dr. T.H. Pardo de Tavera and thus
strengthened his leadership within the Federalista Party.
Unable to work with Pardo de Tavera,
Cameron Forbes, then Secretary of
Commerce(1904-09) and later Governor-
General(1909-13), found his allies, ironically ,
in the ranks of the anti-American
Nacionalista Party .
Forbes began his courtship of Sergio Osmeña
and Manuel Quezon in 1906. He played a key
role in their rise from provincial obscurity to
national prominence.
After Osmeña elected Speaker and Quezon
Majority Leader in the new Assembly, they
were influential in winning Forbes’ evaluation
to the governorship.
Over the next 35 years both men proved
masters at manipulation of powerful
Americans. Quezon was instrumental in the
selection of the liberal Francis Harrison as
governor general and Osmeña won
unprecedented concessions from him by a
complex courtship.
When President Hoover nominated Nicholas
Roosevelt as Vice Governor in 1930, the
Nacionalistas raised such a storm of protest that
the U.S. senate rejected the nomination.
The Filipinos won most major battles, but at the
cost of sacrificing their original goal which is
immediate and complete independence. By
postponing independence for so long and
mastering the art of colonial compromise so well,
the Philippines had become bound to America by
ties that could not be easily severed, and these
are Economic, political, military and cultural.