An Outlook on Ariel S.

Tabag's "Voice Tape"

“Patawarin mo ako, Mahal. Di ko ginusto. Papatayin ako kapag lumaban ako. Isipin mo na
lang na makakamtan na rin natin ang hinahangad mong magandang kinabukasan para sa mga anak
natin... Matatapos din ang kontrata ko...” OFW’s are people, they have the right to speak and stand up
wherever they may be, or maybe not.
Ariel Sotelo Tabag is a bilingual Ilokano fictionist (he writes in Ilokano language and
Tagalog/Filipino), poet, editor, translator, and musician. He plays bass guitar for the underground band
Pilo and the Ilocano rock band Manong Diego (formerly Samtoy). With Mighty C. Rasing, another
Ilokano writer-musician, they started Danirock, a poetry performance with rock music. He is also a
fellow to the 41st UP National Writers Workshop (2002). He has received the Palanca Awards for his
Ilokano short stories. He has also been awarded the Talaang Ginto-Gantimpalang Collantes. He has
received various awards from Ilokano literary contests such as AMMAFLA, SABALI, Tugade Awards,
and others. He is the author of Karapote (Curion), an anthology of Ilokano short stories, and Ay, Ni
Reberen! (OMG, Reverend!), a short novel.
The characters in the selection include Dante (the Narrator), Nanang and Tatang, Angkel
“Ato” Renato, Magdalena (Angkel Ato’s wife), Boying (Dante’s friend), Angkel Mulong (the youngest
sibling), Angkel Ceferino (the 5th sibling), Angkel Alfredo, Lilong Martin, and the bald man (CAFGU
member).
The short story “Voice Tape”, is narrated by a guy named Dante. The story took place in
Santa Teresita, Cagayan when Dante and his mother went back to their old house in the province and
planned to get his ”Best in Math” academic certificates from his Elementary and High School years,
only to discover a voice tape that was hidden under the old cabinet that had “4 my one & onli lab ATO”
written on it – which was owned by his Angkel Ato. From then on, the character of Dante started
reminiscing on what actually happened to his Angkel Ato, and how he died.
He recalled the exact date of the accident, February 16, 1992. He was in 2nd year High
School and as usual he stayed under an indian tree before going to school at St. Francis Academy, when
a sudden commotion occurred near the marketplace. He was very intrigued as to what had just
happened, when somebody shouted “Nakupo! Nabangga na!”. He felt like he knew the victim, he asked
himself if it would be Boying, so he ran back home as fast as he could and told his mother about it, but
due to the nervousness, he stuttered was not able to tell who the victim was. As if his mother sensed
who it was, She rushed outside immediately and went to the place of commotion, from there, they
confirmed that it was Angkel Ato who have gotten hit by a Manny Trans bus.
 Then, the flow of the story lightened when Dante talked about how Angkel Ato made bold
decisions in his life knowing that at an early age of 18, he decided to marry Magdalena, his wife. Until
later on did they decide on moving out and building their own house, as well as having children. Both
of them did not finish college, so Magdalena was forced to work in Abu Dhabi as an OFW. Dante
admits that he did not have a close relationship with his Angkel Ato, but one memory he has was when
he asked for help in writing his wife a letter, since he was “no read, no write”. Even in the wake of
Angkel Ato, he was the one to stay with him in the living room alone which creeped him out.
Angkel Ato was a farmer. While his wife is abroad, he’s the one who provides for his
children. In the story, we see struggles that he faced. First was when his “kalabaw” was stolen from
him and since it was one of his sources of income, he was enraged and went to Dante’s home and
brought out a “paltik” (homemade gun), to which Nanang thought he was going to shoot himself.
Another struggle was when he had a close encounter with a member of CHDF (Civilian Home Defense
Force – a group known for brutally hurting others), which was rumored to be killed by Angkel Ato
himself.
After the death of Angkel Ato many speculations have gone around saying that Angkel Ato
did not get hit by accident, rather it was his own intention to get hit, it was a suicide.Later on did they
know that it was true. Angkel Ato commited suicide and it has something to do with the message in the
voice tape. When they heard the message, they knew that Angkel Ato did suicide because he can’t do
anything while his wife was being maltreated, or even raped by her boss abroad. The voice tape quoted,
““Patawarin mo ako, Mahal. Di ko ginusto. Papatayin ako kapag lumaban ako. Isipin mo na lang na
makakamtan na rin natin ang hinahangad mong magandang kinabukasan para sa mga anak natin...
Matatapos din ang kontrata ko...” , which therefore answers the mystery of Angkel Ato’s death.
In the positive side, the plot twist was good, the choices of vocabulary was good as well.
The plot in the story is very much justified through the events. By far, the story was effective as it kept
me intrigued the whole time. The author made it a point where you will have sneak peaks about what is
really to happen, but at the same time he will give you fallacies, that I think is a great factor.
“Voice Tape” is rather a complex story for me to read, especially due to the fact that the
author used a lot of flashbacks. If I have to be honest, I did not like the structure as I believe that it
could be better, as they were times when some parts are too complicated, I could barely understand the
flow of the story, the author was not specific enough with the characters as well. Also, I noticed that the
story followed a lot of beliefs like “bawal magwalis pag may patay”, or even throwing coins in a new
built house. The story was very traditional, which makes it very much accurate, since the story was
witten in 1978.
Francesca Marie Victoria 11 – HUMSS 5