Thursday, August 18, 2022
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Columns Pop goes the world by Jenny Ortuoste

Nonoy Marcelo for National Artist

Jenny OrtuostebyJenny Ortuoste
December 16, 2020, 12:20 am
in Pop goes the world by Jenny Ortuoste
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
140
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

"His cartoon live on."

 

 

I was having a leisurely Sunday conversation on Facetime with a U.S.-based Filipino friend, a member of the diaspora, when he suddenly mentioned the name ‘Nonoy Marcelo.’

Our conversation wasn’t about art; it was about current events and the power of social commentary. I said, “How odd you should mention him, because I heard he’s being nominated for National Artist.” My friend grunted in approval. “It’s well-deserved,” he said.

What it also is, is long overdue. Marcelo passed away on Oct. 22, 2002, leaving behind a substantial and unforgettable body of work that resonates in the memories of his contemporaries and sparks the imaginations of those discovering him for the first time.

ADVERTISEMENT

Severino “Nonoy” Santos Marcelo was born in Malabon on Jan. 22, 1939, to David Marcelo, a war hero and an assistant dean of Far Eastern University (FEU) and Rita Santos, an FEU English professor. He graduated with an AB English degree in FEU where he was the cartoonist for the school’s paper The Advocate. It was there that he created the beatnik cartoon character Ptyk and Blidit the frog, a denizen of a Tolkien-like place inhabited mostly by cantankerous and highly political mice. Alfredo Roces, a former dean of FEU, was his model for Tisoy.

He is best known, though, for creating the savvy little rodent Ikabod Bubwit who starred in his comic strip ‘Ikabod.’ It was this friend of mine that turned me on to Ikabod when we were teens, and it was the humor in it that first drew us in – when Marcelo referred to pesos as ‘kesos’ and Quezon City as ‘Keso City,’ all within a Philippines thinly disguised as ‘Dagalandia.’

Later, it was Marcelo’s social commentary that we began to appreciate. The cartoonist scored the issues of the day and took potshots at prominent personalities. Somehow the humor threw the seriousness of the situations he described into sharper relief.

So iconic was Ikabod that the character was immortalized in a postage stamp issued by the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost) in 2019.

Marcelo also developed ‘Tisoy’ in 1963, which lampooned Filipino lifestyles. His characters Aling Otik, her grandson Kinse and his cat Myawok, among others, romped through the comic strip as well as two films and a television series.

The artist was versatile as well – in his varied career, he was also an animation and sound director in films and a scriptwriter for films and television. What many may not know is that he taught at the Fine Arts Department of the University of the Philippines for a couple of years. He was also the only Asian artist featured in Time Magazine in its cover story, “Mighty Pens,” an article about political cartoonists.

He received many local and international awards, among them the Catholic Mass Media Award for best comic strip in 1986 for ‘Ikabod’ and in 1988 for both ‘Ikabod’ and ‘Aling Otik.’ In 1999, Marcelo received the Parangal Sentenyal sa Sining at Kultura of the Cultural Center of the Philippines' Centennial Honors for the Arts and in 2002, the Patnubay Award for Visual Arts given by the City of Manila.

Marcelo’s achievements are many and I cannot enumerate them all here without sounding like a CV. What’s important to note is that last Monday (Dec. 14), he was nominated for a posthumous National Artist award by Dr. Edward Chua of the Asian Development Foundation College, a well-known school in Tacloban City, Leyte, that has produced a multitude of board-certified professionals.

Although Marcelo has been dead for more than 18 years, his cartoons live on. Next year, the FEU Library will produce a documentary of his life spearheaded by Atty. Gianna Montinola, Senior Vice-President for Corporate Affairs, and Raquel Baquiran, Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Architecture.

The documentary will show Nonoy Marcelo’s artworks created from age nine to the time of his death and interviews of people who knew him.

The artworks to be exhibited are from the Saul Hofileña Jr. Archives — the ‘lungga files,’ as Gab Marcelo, the artist’s grandson notes, since they came from the apartment of Marcelo at U.P. Bliss Project, Quezon City.

Upon Marcelo’s death, Krip Yuson wrote in his Philippine Star column:

“His manic sense of mirth will stay with us for all time. He has lauded everyman, especially the Filipino in all his inadvertent disguises, by exposing the funny bone within every stereotype, or behind every motive, even as a stiff halo over a beleaguered if saintly head. Nonoy invented and reinvented a mousetrap for the “soul” like no other.

“I propose therefore that he be rewarded his due, by this strong republic no less. And no less than the National Artist should be conferred on him, as soon as possible—no more formal nominations to meet whatever deadline, no more discussions or argumentation.

“Everyone would agree that Severino “Nonoy” Marcelo deserves it, had long deserved it, except that it wasn’t in his nature to seek it out. Like Groucho Marx, he would have disrespected any institution that deigned to ask him in, let alone honored him. Now that his back is turned, let’s surprise him. Even then, I suspect, we can never have the last laugh.” ***

 

*** Where are the missing PhilHealth billions? FB and Twitter: @DrJennyO

Tags: National ArtistNonoy Marcelo
ADVERTISEMENT
Jenny Ortuoste

Jenny Ortuoste

Related Posts

Book-banning, red-tagging: Classic dick moves

byJenny Ortuoste
August 17, 2022, 12:00 am
0
262
The Reuters 2022 Digital News report

"Censoring and banning books is a move always associated with fascism and authoritarianism, based on the desire to control and...

Read more

Imaginary university breaks PH internet

byJenny Ortuoste
August 12, 2022, 12:15 am
0
394

“What communication practitioners find amazing and should take lessons from is how the page grew its content organically from unpaid...

Read more

Hau, Topacio-Aplaon bag top honors in 39th NBA

byJenny Ortuoste
August 5, 2022, 12:00 am
0
203

“This government’s officials should look at the arts not just as something highfalutin’ to do with culture, but also as...

Read more

Two book awards are back after long hiatuses

byJenny Ortuoste
July 27, 2022, 12:05 am
0
259

"I hope this current government will step up to be more supportive of recognition ceremonies that provide incentives to writers,...

Read more

National Children’s Book Day

byJenny Ortuoste
July 20, 2022, 12:00 am
0
255

"Among the values connected to reading is the development of cognitive skills and the facility in the use of language...

Read more

DICT has big role to play in e-governance, e-commerce

byJenny Ortuoste
July 13, 2022, 12:05 am
0
265

"The challenge to the current administration is to step up and vastly improve government services in this regard, starting with...

Read more

Stories you may like

  • People …are talking about Liza Soberano

    Supermodel son is Philippine bet in Manhunt International

    12340 shares
    Share 4936 Tweet 3085
  • How love kept Zoey Taberna alive

    10222 shares
    Share 4089 Tweet 2556
  • Another oil price rollback likely as world economy further stalls

    1469 shares
    Share 588 Tweet 367
  • Judgments and their execution

    1299 shares
    Share 520 Tweet 325
  • SMART/MVP-PH Team joins ‘22 Asian Taekwondo Championship

    1114 shares
    Share 446 Tweet 279

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • South Korean skaters begin bans after drink-driving crash
  • US says China to pursue ‘growing coercion’ of Taiwan
  • Four killed, 27 missing in northwest China floods
  • Asian markets drop as Fed minutes cause fresh rate hike woe
  • Tokyo Olympics exec arrested over bribery allegations
  • Hundreds evacuated as ‘frightening’ floods hit N.Zealand
  • Cheney defeat marks Trump’s win over traditional conservatism
  • Anger as US court says teen not ‘mature’ enough for abortion

Advertisement

Latest News

Hundreds evacuated as ‘frightening’ floods hit N.Zealand

byAFP
August 18, 2022, 10:00 am
0
160
Hundreds evacuated as ‘frightening’ floods hit N.Zealand

Hundreds of families on New Zealand's South Island were forced to leave their homes on Thursday after flooding caused a...

Read more

Cheney defeat marks Trump’s win over traditional conservatism

byAFP
August 18, 2022, 9:00 am
0
159
Cheney defeat marks Trump’s win over traditional conservatism

Republican scion Liz Cheney's primary defeat to a hardline Trumpist rival underlines the dramatic shift the party has undergone under...

Read more

Anger as US court says teen not ‘mature’ enough for abortion

byAFP
August 18, 2022, 8:00 am
0
149
Anger as US court says teen not ‘mature’ enough for abortion

An appeals court in Florida has upheld a ruling that a 16-year-old girl is not "sufficiently mature" enough to get...

Read more

‘Captain America’ Reed files $750m law suit over ‘malicious attacks’

byAFP
August 18, 2022, 7:00 am
0
151
‘Captain America’ Reed files $750m law suit over ‘malicious attacks’

US golfer Patrick Reed, who departed the US PGA Tour for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series, has filed a $750...

Read more

TikTok girds for US election misinformation threat

byAFP
August 18, 2022, 6:00 am
0
139
TikTok girds for US election misinformation threat

TikTok on Wednesday rolled out its battle plan against the deluge of misinformation expected to accompany the upcoming US midterm...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Technology
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • MS ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Pets
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App