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Posted June 6, 2013 by Tony Tuason in Comics
 
 

Philippine Daily Inquirer Cancels Pugad Baboy by Pol Medina Jr.

The Philippine Star just revealed that the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper is pulling out fan-favorite comic strip Pugad Baboy by Pol Medina Jr. after it’s June 4 publication in the Comic Relief section having a topic focusing on gay, lesbian, catholic issues and an all-girl school St. Scholastica’s College.

A lot of people got irked with the strip. Some were students and alumni of St. Scho, saying it was cheap and a low blow to them mainly because the strip is generalizing people from the school especially the ones who run it. And even in this modern age, hitting on religion like Christianity will spark a lot of issues especially in our country. Pugad Baboy was first published in 1988 and has long since talked about social issues like crime, corruption, media, politics, etc, but this strip really did reach out to a lot of people and were affected — and pinoys react quickly and viciously when it comes to something posted in their walls or tweet feed.

One issue that we see arising from this is the freedom of speech of our citizens, and in this case – our artists. Our arts industry especially our komiks industry which includes pinoy graphic novels and komiks strips are still not yet that great and cant sustain itself on it’s own and needs much support from everyone.  Support from government, fellow artists, our media – I’m just wondering if PDI reviews their content before getting published. Surely this will be the ‘hot topic’ for artists. Even with the freedom of speech, to what extent and what is the limitation when creating one’s work or to express himself/herself? In this modern age, are we supposed to be open to a lot of topics involving sexuality and religion – even if it is found in comic strips? Have we lost our humor and have grown very sensitive on sensitive issues? Do media companies have to be more socially responsible when releasing content found in their comics section?

There are no news if PDI will resume Pugad Baboy some other time or if another newspaper will pick it up. What do you guys think of the recent events surrounding Pugad Baboy? Let us know!


Tony Tuason

 
Tony is just your average guy who loves comics, toys, games, movies, and all those geek goodness.