Tata Selo: A Character of Inferiority

What would you do to a man who ejects you to work in the land you owned? The same
man who took advantage of your poverty, or worse, child? The same man who now canes you in
the head. These questions have been answered by Tata Selo, the title character in Rogelio Sikat’s
short story. Slash him! At least the old man Tata Selo has the guts. At least the poor Tata Selo
acquired the divinely expensive justice. At least the abused gets the chance to damage as well. At
least the nether ripped itself high up the eminent pile of skulls overlooking the bloody crown
below, signaling the end of reign that thrives on inequality. But it’s never the end. For someone
who is Tata Selo, the world divided by status will continuously pin him down, pin after pin after
pin until “ang lahat ay kinuha na sa kanila [everything is taken from them]” (111). It is apparent
from the short story that Tata Selo is a character of inferiority, ranging from being old to being
poor which in present day’s society are two defining characteristics of helpless, low status, weak,
and exploitable animals.
Sikat made the first impression of Tata Selo as a man with wounded and swollen
forehead, teary eyes, and feet dried of mud, wearing faded gray sweater with a slit on the elbow
while gripping tightly the prison railings as he watches flocks of people murmuring, eyeing him
as if watching a beast in a zoo. This mere picture signifies a man that is helpless like a caged bird
singing for freedom. But unlike a bird, he is being despised, judged and condemned by the all-
knowing audience. Such scenario is just one of the many misfortunes that convicts are
experiencing day by day. People behind bars are perceived by the society as beasts that needs
isolation from the cleansed yet no freedom within the void. Worse, these preconceived views
towards them are unfounded, just the sight of these men inside the jail is enough to label them as
the worst without thinking what actually happened, what initiated one to embark on such actions
or even how that action is actuated.
Another misfortune, which can be seen but ignored by authorities and endured by
prisoners, is the undue physical and emotional attacks by prison wardens which Tata Selo has
failed to be exempted from. From these attacks, it is inferential that there are really those who
view prisoners as nothing but animals which can be an object of entertainment but rather
unilateral. What seems so severe is that the maltreatment to Tata Selo is done by no less than the
chief of police who should be the model of just and equitable law enforcement. These people are
quick to jail those who offend yet they themselves commit offenses. What now distinguishes the
convicts and the law enforcers is the authority to manipulate what is good and what is evil. It is
the status that dictates, and what a world to revolve around such iniquity.
One of the most prominent dictator of status in our society, and is the central theme of the
short story, is wealth and the lack of it, to which Tata Selo unfortunately falls on the latter.
Wealth is, no doubt, the primary distinguishing factor between who gets which and who gets
none. Of course, the more wealth one has, the more one acquires and these seem to encompass
both concrete and abstract things, from houses, cars, jewelries, shoes, land to happiness, care,
protection, love, loyalty, justice and even one’s life, health and dignity, especially of those who
have little or nothing. This is true for many, and is happening around us, just like what happened
to the poor Tata Selo. Because even health now and then at the time of Tata Selo is
discriminatory as hospital bills for health care tends to stay above the earnings of the poor, he is
forced to put on loan the only field he own to support the treatment of his wife’s sickness, which
presumably came off short as his wife died anyway, the reason of which we do not know.
However, what we know is the fact that the rich gets the bigger part of the pie of health service,
too big that what’s left for the poor is the impatient nurse with brows and eyes pierced, and voice
of high intonation upon the inquiries of the innocent who only knows that their loved one is
dying.
To add up Tata Selo’s mishaps of being poor, his field got attached by the captain in their
baranggay, who supposed to be the instrument of help and understanding for the poor and not the
one who capitalizes on the poverty of his constituents. This sounds similar in our present society
wherein the rich feeds on the poor as a microfinance company charging an extra peso in every
five pesos borrowed, or as a politician initiating a ghost project for the poor, using the funds of
the poor. These masked exploits that try to appear a charitable service only pin down the already
low in statute.
Even justice by which equity is supposedly served, is both skewed and trampled by the
system wherein the capability to attain justice or defend oneself from thereto is proportionate to
the purchasing power, hence opening the biggest door of justice to the rich, and probably to the
rich only. Such injustice is shown by Sikat in the story when Tata Selo was immediately
sentenced for murdering the captain when he can still counter it with the fact that he only
defended himself from undue caning of the captain which is apparent from the wounds he has or
such act is out of anger for ejecting him out of his land after his child, Saling, went home sick
from working in the house of the captain, which the latter might be the reason why she is sick. In
other words, Tata Selo has all the right to defend himself from justice. Yet he was not given that
privilege because: (1) he is facing against a high-profile individual; and, (2) he is poor; so who is
he kidding? Truly, the suffering of people like Tata Selo from poverty, as if they are not enough
to stand-alone is ostensibly multiplied by the societal constraints against them which both
discriminate and exploit them through their poverty.
An obscured and rather sensitive aspect of the short story is about Tata Selo’s 17-year old
child, Saling, who worked for the captain in his house but went home to Tata Selo sick, the
nature of sickness we know little about but may pertain not to a conventional sickness but to a
sickness of which woman reputation is at stake. Such conclusion is founded upon the secrecy
Tata Selo has bestowed saying ‘“Bayaan mo na…bayaan mo na. Umuwi ka na, anak. Huwag,
huwag ka nang magsasabi…” [“Do not mind it… do not mind it. Go home. Don’t, don’t you
ever tell about…]’ (110) which may indicate that something has happened between Saling and
the captain and the revelation of which may ruin both parties’ reputation. Furthermore, this may
be the reason why the captain tried to eject Tata Selo from their land to prevent such scandal.
Whatever it is, there is sure to have exploitation within the story wherein the weak is being
manipulated and abused by the strong ones. Land owners who do nothing to cultivate their lands
in contrast with the farmers oftentimes eject the latter when their use is of no importance to them
or whenever owners feel threatened by the farmers. Women who are in desperate need of money
are being lured towards sexual activities. These are the people who are exploited by the society,
thrown by bricks after bricks which accumulates into something bleak that is susceptible for
criticisms.
Finally, the short story introduced the concept of old ones being incompetent, weak and
obsolete to make a beneficial life as if they were not the ones who shaped the succeeding
generations. And such perceptions upon them, once they start to realize that it is probably true
are sadly affecting their positive self-concept which in turn makes them feel unfulfilled. This is
what Tata Selo felt when he was informed that he is going to be replaced, justifying further that
‘“Alam ko pong pinanonood ako ng kabesa, kung kaya po naman pinagbuti ko ang paggawa,
para malaman niyang ako po’y talagang malakas pa, kaya ko pa pong magsaka.” [“I knew that
captain is watching me as I work so I tried to show my best to let him know that I am still strong,
that I can still farm well”]’ (108) yet the indifferent captain is unyielding and even caned him,
which is overly disrespectful at least. Similar scenarios are happening to our oldies around us.
Some are being kept inside the house like a prisoner, some are being perceived by their children
as burdens, some are being sent by a recommendation memo suggesting they should retire and
some remains unemployed because the employer seeks a discriminative employee age range of
20 years old to 40 years old, hence cannot help themselves but feel bad.
The short story “Tata Selo” is the story of those deemed to be inferiors who are oppressed
day by day by the discriminatory societal standards. It reflects the way of living, the challenges
and difficulties of those who does not fit on certain normative criteria. Those prisoners who are
abused and misjudged, those poor ones who are being discriminated by different necessaries and
wants in our society, those who are exploited and weak who instead of receiving comfort to fight
desperation is being criticized, those oldies and incompetents who constantly feels down about
themselves, they are the “Tata Selo” in our society, and they deserve to be listened to, they
deserve a story.
 References

Abueg, E. R., Mirasol, D. B., Ordoñez, R. L., Reyes, E. M., & Sikat, R. (1964). Mga Agos sa
Disyerto (1st ed.). Manila: Limbagang Pilipino.