Severino Santos Marcelo Dies

Today in Philippine History (Philatelic Edition Series 3):

October 22, 2002

Severino "Nonoy" Santos Marcelo (January 22, 1939 – October 22, 2002) was born in Malabon, Metro Manila on January 22, 1939. 

He was an AB student at the Far Eastern University and became a famous cartoonist in The Advocate (the official student publication of Far Eastern University). 

He came up with a cartoon character PTYK, a long-haired beatnik who carried large books and quoted Albert Camus or Jose Garcia Villa in a casual quip. PTYK became the conscience of the student body. The FEU dean Alejandro Roces saw his talent and encouraged him to do a regular strip for the Manila Times. 

Marcelo was best known for creating the character Ikabod Bubwit in the comic strip Ikabod for Bulletin Today. It provided a social commentary on the Marcos dictatorship at a time when media was under the control of the Marcos government. He often used the strip to caricature political figures like Ferdinand Marcos, Corazon Aquino, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and re-imagining them as mice in a country called Dagalandia. It ran from the late 1970s to 2002. 

His other comic strips were Plain Folks, which appeared in the Daily Mirror during the early 1960s, and Tisoy in 1963 for the Manila Times, which tells about the lifestyle of young Filipinos. 

Tisoy (slang for "mestizo"), included other characters such as Aling Otik, Maribubut, Caligula, Tatang, Tikyo and Kinse. In 1977, it became a film directed by Ishmael Bernal, starring Christopher de Leon and Charo Santos. 

A critically acclaimed cartoonist of political satire, his works evoke the funny and oftentimes harsh realities of Filipino daily life. 

Marcelo was awarded the Catholic Mass Media Award for print journalism in 1985, a category usually given to reporters or columnists. He received the Cultural Center of the Philippines' Centennial Artist Award in 1998, and was given the Parangal Sentenyal sa Sining at Kultura Award on February 2, 1999. 

Three years later, on October 22, 2002, Severino Marcelo died of sepsis due to complications from his diabetes.

(Design, concept, stamps and research: Richard Allan B. Uy) All rights reserved

Photo credit: wikipedia.org