Here’s a theme that is still with us. 74 years ago, on July 2, 1926, Cebu’s weekly Bag-ong Kusog carried this editorial cartoon on Filipino Muslim-Christian relations.

The scene is Mindanao. A menacing, Kris-wielding Muslim confronts Juan de la Cruz. Looking self-possessed, Juan says, “Be quiet, Brother; there’s where the danger is, “ pointing to an approaching army in the distance. This army, the common enemy”, is Imperialismo.

The immediate context of the cartoon was a flare-up of Christian-Muslim disturbances in Mindanao. The fear of the Muslims that they would be relegated to becoming second-class citizens in the proposed independent Philippine State led to Muslim petitions of exclusion from such a state. This led US congressman Robert Bacon to introduce the aborted Bacon Bill of 1926, which proposed that Mindanao, Sulu, Palawan and Mindoro be officially considered separate from the Philippines and placed under US administration.

Filipino leaders jumped on the Bacon Bill for another display of Filipino “nationalist” flag-waving. They argued (with some basis) that the Bacon Bill was a ploy to undermine Philippine independence and carve out territory as a special American economic reserve. Hence, the cartoon, calling for Muslim-Christian solidarity in the face of the imperialists.

It was a fair and just call, says the editorial. Yet, as the cartoon unintentionally states, the attitude of Filipino-Christian politicians towards “minorities” was often characterized by insincerity and bad faith. These politicians protested against “imperialism” even if they themselves abetted the entry of big American capitalists into the country. They denounced the Americans in public and courted their support in private.

Consider, as well, the gross ethnic stereotyping in the cartoon. The Muslim is depicted as a ferocious and war-like juramentado. The Christian Juan de la Cruz is sober, reasonable, and politically correct.

Source: Ybarra