THE BRAVE BUBWIT

MOST of the time during electoral campaigns, supporters attack rival candidates. But you know a nation is too divided if certain supporters attack not just the candidates but the supporters of the other camp themselves. I remember how the Fascist Blackshirts won power for Benito Mussolini in Italy with the use of thuggery. They have no tolerance for level-headed opposing ideas. The rabidity can either prove effective or not depending on the response of the people. Some might be turned off and will not vote the candidate of the thugs, but some will be more cautious in speaking out because of the threats and insults hurled at them and to preserve their mental health.

But one thing is for sure. For people to really listen to you, and maybe even believe in you, it takes more than insulting words. It takes creativity.

That is why the kind of political commentary that the late Manila Times cartoonist Nonoy Marcelo did with his “Ikabod Bubwit,” “Tisoy” and “Plain Folks” is missed by many. It was on point and funny. But make no mistake, it was hard-hitting commentary, but the toxicity was diminished by the sense of humor. The way it was also written respected the intelligence of the readers; the satire was fun but never peddled as news (for today, people find it hard to distinguish the thin line between satire and disinformation for we take everything too seriously now). Artists today who mean well in the fight for democracy and consider themselves “woke” can oftentimes create material that are too heavy and too serious. Marcelo showed you can be light without diminishing the gravity of the message.

Also, with his deep sense of history and of Filipino culture, his criticisms are said in a manner in which one can imagine laughing even when criticized because it is a remark made by someone who knows you. And this is true about his commentaries on Ferdinand and Imelda towards the People Power Revolution in “Ikabod” (the brave mice or “bubwit”).

He lost his stable job at the Manila Times when the newspaper was folded upon the imposition of martial law in 1972 and went on self-imposed exile in the United States thereafter. Then he returned to work for Imelda Marcos with the cartoon “Aling Otik” who was a Metro Aide (the street sweepers under Imelda’s Metropolitan Manila Commission) and even made a fly-on-the-wall documentary of Ferdinand visiting Ilocos. But he did not turn a blind eye to what was happening and thus, “Ikabod” was born. With this complicated and tumultuous experience, you really know that what he was doing was not out of sheer hate or defense of certain political families but out of love of country.

That he was able to engage the people in such a way, we should all learn from Marcelo’s genius.

One way to do this is to look at the virtual exhibit created by the Far Eastern University (FEU), Marcelo’s alma mater, and its Institute of Architecture entitled “The Brave Bubwit: Nonoy Marcelo’s Irreverent Art that Attacked and Endeared” which features 230 artworks from the FEU Archives and from the “lungga files” of historian and collector, lawyer Saul Hofileña Jr., arranged in a virtual space created to cleverly appear like the Nicanor Reyes Hall of FEU.

The exhibition is divided into five segments. The first segment shows Nonoy’s early lungga years and is housed in Gallery 1 while the second segment, “Tisoy and Plain Folks as Masterpieces in Social Satire” is exhibited in Gallery 2 (opened Nov. 22, 2021), Gallery 3 (to open Dec. 6, 2021), and Gallery 5 (to open Dec. 20, 2021). The remaining three segments will be launched next year. A press release wittily declared, “The galleries are navigable and user friendly with one’s mouse (no pun intended).”

The first of its kind in the country, the exhibit was described by visitors as “awesome,” “inspiring,” “fantabulous,” “terrific,” “impressive.” For more information see the Facebook page of FEU Institute of Architecture.

During the launch of the first segment last November 11, Howie Severino, who was a young reporter at the Manila Chronicle years after the EDSA Revolution, related how he saw how much Marcelo loved people, getting along well with everyone from the head of the newspaper to the janitors, calling them by their first names. He was so dedicated to his art that he lacked sleep and rarely rested, which may have been the reason for his early death. Aside from the fact that coffee, Coke and cigarettes were part of his daily staple.

Severino said that Marcelo was always full of brilliant ideas, always hunting jobs for other artists and always opened doors of opportunity for many people. He committed his whole life to his craft.

A generosity of spirit that can animate even the bravest and sharpest of political pundits.