The Neo-colonialism of Disney in the Philippines

 

A Disney store in an SM Mall in Manila

Antonio Rubi (Ryan Joseph Borgonia)

Written Jan. 9, 2026, feast of the Black Nazarene of Manila

In 1898, as we were fighting for our independence from Spain, the Spanish-American War began when the USS Maine, a ship in Spanish Cuba’s waters exploded.

The explosion on the ship was blamed to start war with Spain. Eventually, the Americans started to aid Cuba and the Philippines in their fight for independence.

On June 12, 1898, in Cavite, the independence of the Philippines from Spain was proclaimed.

On Aug. 13, 1898, the Battle of Manila took place in which the Americans defeated the Spanish. This was the beginning of American occupation of the Philippines.

In the Treaty of Paris of 1898, Spain ceded Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Mariana Islands and the Philippines to the United States.

The Americans, who were allies with the Filipinos against Spain, started to betray the Filipinos.

On February 4, 1899 in a bridge in Manila, American soldiers fired shots on Filipino soldiers. This was the beginning of the Philippine-American War of 1899.

During that war, many atrocities were committed. American soldiers killed and butchered many innocent Filipino civilians. One of the worse crimes committed was the Pacification of Samar, in which an American general said, ‘’Kill all over ten!''

On March 6, 1901, in Palanan, Isabela, Emilio Aguinaldo was captured by the Americans.

The American soldiers will continue to fight more rebels like the Muslim Moro people in Mindanao until 1913.

American culture was strongly implemented in our country. Protestant sects mushroomed in our country, making many Filipino Catholic apostates. Many aspects of American life were imposed on Filipinos.

Despite the Americans liberating us from Japanese rule in 1945, they still remain the foreign imperialists like the Japanese. On July 4, 1946, we gained our independence from the United States. However, we were still being controlled by the US, and we even made a pact together called the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951.

US political imperialism may have ended in the Philippines since 1946, from 1946 onwards, US cultural imperialism has ruled over us, suppressing our culture. One of those examples is Disney. Disney cartoons made its debut in the Philippines in the late American era to early independent era. We may have some cartoons at the time like KENKOY, but were de-popularized by the influence of the Disney imperialists in our country.

From the late 1940s up to the present, the only cartoons Filipinos watched were Disney cartoons and American cartoons. No representation of Filipinos in animation.

Compare this with the Soviet Union, they banned Disney, yet were able to make successful cartoons.

It was only in the late 1990s to early 2000s that Filipinos started to make their own cartoons.

Until the 2020s,

In 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida. signed the ‘’Florida Parental Rights in Education Bill’’ which prevented the talk of the sin of homosexuality in Florida schools.

Disney got furious, and went against Ron DeSantis.

As a result, conservative parents protested against Disney, prompting that Disney was ‘’grooming’’, ‘’sexualizing’’ and ‘’brainwashing’’ children into immorality, the sin of homosexuality.

From my viewpoint, this is seen as America imposing their liberal values on us as well as horrible memories of the Philippine-American War of 1899.

In my early days for my anti-Disney campaign, I made anti-Disney memes showing off Disney characters in rivalry with Russian cartoon characters, which is a pun on US-Russia relations.

I made my own character, Catalina Santos, a Filipina woman from 17^th century Cebu, during the Spanish colonial era, as a response to the Disney characters promoted in our country, and her looks were based on an original character by Aaron Blaise, a former Disney animator called ‘’Ophelia’’. Her style is based on the Disney Renaissance style.

I tried to make anti-Disney fan-fictions too, but all failed. Instead, I wrote anti-Disney novels which featured Disney characters as villains, for example, my novel 1899, set during the Philippine American War of 1899 features Disney characters as American imperialists. Another, Hajji Murad, is an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novel set in the Caucasus War, but my adaptation is set during the Moro-American War of 1902 to 1913.

On November 2, 2025, I declared the start of my anti-Disney campaign, the ‘’Inkonfidensiya Kartonista’’ (a pun on the Inconfidencia Mineira, a failed anti-colonial revolt in 18^th century Brazil) against Disney and the Yankees. On January 2, 2026, I declared ‘’holy war’’ against Disney.

For me, my war against Disney is not a war fought with weapons but with cartoons. I pray to God that my campaign will be successful, and that Filipinos may have their own cartoon characters.