2002, Severino Marcelo died at the age of 62 in Manila
Remate Online
Fantastic graphics that depict politics and diverse topics; this is how we can describe the artworks of the legendary cartoonist Severino Marcelo, who was known for his great ideas about arts and cartoons in the Philippines. Severino "Nonoy" Marcelo was a cartoonist in the Philippines and widely regarded as one of the best in the world. His birthplace is Malabon City, and he received his education at the Far Eastern University (FEU) in Manila, where he graduated from the Institute of Arts and Sciences. Marcelo maintained a comic strip while at FEU, and he was frequently granted a page in the weekly FEU Advocate where he had an adviser by the name of Alejandro "Anding" Roces.
Marcelo is most known for developing the comic strip character "Ikabod Bubwit," a tiny rodent in the "Ikabod" comic strip. Plain Folks, which featured in the Daily Mirror during the early 1960s, and Tisoy, which debuted in the Manila Times in 1963 and depicted the lifestyle of young Filipinos, are two of Marcelo's other comic strips that have appeared in print. Tisoy, a slang term for mixed race, and other cast members such as Aling Otik, Maributbut, Caligula, Tatang, Tikyo, and Kinse became well-known in Philippine popular culture.
Described as "at the cutting edge of 1960s youth culture, expressing the rebelliousness and raw idealism of his time," the novel "Tisoy" eventually turned into a film in 1977 directed by Ishmael Bernal and starring Christopher de Leon and Charo Santos, which was released in 1977. Moreover, Ikabod became a television series that lasted from the late 1970s through 2002. It was a satirical comic strip in which the Philippines was re-imagined as a country named "Dagalandia," populated entirely by mice.
Aside from caricatures, the comic strip is frequently used to depict political personalities like Ferdinand Marcos, Corazon Aquino, Joseph Estrada, and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. All of them are illustrated as mice in the strip. Aside from that, it also highlighted the socio-political plight of regular Filipinos, as embodied by the tailless mouse hero Ikabod—who, in his way, became as famous as that other excellent cartoon rodent, Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse—in his way.
Nonoy was the only Asian cartoonist featured in Times Magazine's September 12, 1988 cover story entitled "Mighty Pens" for his "oblique technique to criticize the repressive Marcos regime." Despite receiving death threats for his scathing commentary, Marcelo continued to pursue his dream and pursue his passion.
Immediately, following the EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986, he received the Catholic Mass Media Award for print journalism. This category is typically reserved for reporters or columnists. Also, Marcelo received the Centennial Artist Award from the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1988 for his accomplishments, making him the first and only cartoonist to receive this distinction.
However, the renowned cartoonist Severino Marcelo, who died on October 22, 2002, at 63 due to sepsis-induced complications from diabetes, will always be remembered. Marcelo, known for making Filipinos laugh back in the day, will remain in the field of art in the Philippines for all the iconic comic strips, which served as a legacy and an inspiration for aspiring young cartoonists.
Hence, the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) along with its counterpart publication, The National Guilder (TNG), affirm its support to Marcelo on his 19th death anniversary for his steadfast commitment in depicting the oppression and exploitation during Marcos regime through his craft, which is his way of helping Filipino citizens realize the state’s dire condition.
