Jorge Pineda, Pioneer Filipino Cartoonist

Together with Fernando Amorsolo, Jose Pereira, and Irineo Miranda, Jorge Pineda belonged to the first generation of Filipino cartoonists to have emerged during the early years of the American occupation.

These early Filipino cartoonists rarely sign their real names on the caricature box since most of their cartoon art were satirical in nature. Pineda was known to have used the psuedonyms Sirom and Makahiya.

In the cartoon shown above, from the Philippines Free press issue of March 21, 1925, Pineda depicted the Filipino provinciano student who was sent to Manila to study, and then on school vacation, returns to his native town like a conquering hero, with everyone admiring his fashionable clothes and the bearing of personality he had acquired in the city. Unbenknownst to his townmates, his report cards reveal that he was a truant student in the university, and a failure in his studies.

True as it was then as it is now.