Rogelio R.

Sikat was born on June 26, 1940 in the town of San Isidro in the province of
Nueva Ecija, as the sixth of eight children of Estanislao Sikat and Crisanta Rodriguez. He
is sometimes referred to as “Rogelio Sikat”, He uses "Sikat" as a pen name to reflect on
his Filipino identity. He was a prolific Filipino novelist, playwright and short story
writer.Sikat was also a distinguished educator. He was a former university professor
and former college dean of the University of the Philippines’ College of Arts and Letters.
Sikat went to Manila to study in the University of Santo Tomas, one of the premier
universities in the Philippines. Sikat served as a writer for the university’s official
newspaper, The Varsitarian. Sikat continued his love for writing after finishing his
Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. Sikat also worked in the newspaper and magazine
industry, serving as a feature writer for the long-running Liwayway magazine.Sikat
received numerous literary prizes but he was particularly remembered for "Impeng
Negro", his 1962 Palanca awardwinning short fiction in Filipino (Tagalog). Many of his
ground-breaking stories first appeared in Liwayway, a long-running magazine with a
particularly strong Tagalog literary section. A posthumous appreciation of Sicat's
achievements were highlighted by award-winning writer Lilia Quindoza-Santiago in Living
and Dying as a Writer." In 1997, the distinguished writer and educator Sikat died of a
cancer.

Impen was tall, dark, and ugly. He was half-Filipino, half-African American. He was 15
going 16, lean and strong, poor and marginalized even among his own socio-economic class
– the marginalized urban poor.There was a hierarchy even among the dregs of society.
Impen was in the lowest rung of the socio-economic order because he was black among
Filipinos who valued fair skin and the looks of their Spanish and American colonizers.
Besides, there was no father figure in his family and his mother had had several children
fathered by several sperm donors unknown to the community.Worst, his mother didn’t
have an extended family, didn’t have a circle of friends, didn’t belong to an NGO, and
didn’t have an inheritance or an education. She supported her five children by working as
a laundrywoman.In the Philippines in the 1960s, a laundrywoman did not have a regular
monthly wage while she worked in a laundromat. She got paid less than the minimum wage
while manually washing clothing for other individuals.Impen, the oldest of five children,
worked as a "agwador," or water carrier. The majority of urban poor people lacked access
to their own water supply. They paid water delivery people to bring them water and bring
it home.The strongest boy, who was Impen's tormentor, had his power centered at the
faucet where the water carriers collected water. He was the bully, Ogor. He was in charge
of the verbal abuse directed towards Impen because he was black, didn't have a father, and
had a loose woman for a mother.Impen had suffered verbal abuse that had lowered his
self-esteem. More concerningly, it had stored a raging volcano of rage in his immature
heart, ready to erupt.Ogor and Impen had engaged in a few brief altercations. Impen
would always be provoked by Ogor. Although he didn't mind being labeled "Negro," it
really got on his nerves when Ogor and his followers disparaged his mother.On that fateful
morning, Impen's mother had warned him to disregard Ogor and He would pretend that
Ogor didn't exist.When Impen arrived, there was already a long line of pails at the faucet.
He didn’t pay attention to Ogor and his ilk no matter how much they insulted him.
Dignity? Impen was nothing. He was empty. Dignity was a far-
fetched and unattainable ideal.The temperature increased as the sun rose higher in the sky.
It was a blazing hot day. It scorched Impen’s skin and made him very thirsty as he waited
patiently for his turn to collect water at the faucet.It had been a good day so far. He had
made five trips and had earned fifty centavos without any skirmish with Ogor. When Ogor
left with his haul, Impen wished for Ogor not to return too soon to the faucet.But as Impen
was about to put his pail under the faucet, Ogor came back so quickly and unexpectedly.
He announced imperiously, “I’m hungry. I’ll skip the line.”Impen resisted weakly, but took
his empty pails from the top of the line and whispered to himself that he’d better go home.
He could come back after lunch anyway.At this point, Ogor tripped Impen who lost his
balance, fell on the concrete floor around the faucet area and cut his cheek on the sharp
edge of a tin pail. Blood oozed from Impen’s cheek. He let out a beastly scream of pain and
fear. He cupped his cheek with trembling hands.“Ogor!” Impen screamed as he writhed in
pain on the ground. Ogor kicked Impen viciously. Then the two of them wrestled on the
ground. Impen forgot the pain and the humiliation. The bottled-up fury in his heart
exploded. He punched and hit and walloped and smacked and whacked and clobbered
Ogor.Im… pen…” Ogor pleaded weakly. “Enough… I can’t… Stop it… stop it…” Ogor
was moaning… Impen pulled himself up and put down his arms.Everyone else was quiet.
Impen looked at each one of them. There was admiration and respect in their eyes. And
fear, too.Tears merged with blood in Impen’s face. The bright noonday sun shone even
brighter as Impen claimed his new kingship. He had won back his human dignity.Although
we now live in the 21st century, the era of digital natives, bullying has remained rampant
and has spread in cyber space. Many kids find themselves bullied under different
situations.Impen shows them that the utterly powerless and completely marginalized can
conquer bullies. Even in an era of multimedia and multiliteracies, the raw power of
physical might still rules.Of course, fighting bullies need not be physical all the time. The
ultimate message of “Impeng Negro” is that there are no oppressors where no one is willing
to be oppressed. Impeng Negro is a short story about a young boy namely Impen, who was
born looking differently; having a dark complexion, thick and dark hair, large eyes, and
lips that looked more like an animal's. Despite having the said description, Impen is known
to be more hard working and diligent than anyone in his town but on his normal days in
work, he would encounter people who tended to tease him because of how he looked and
criticisms would normally come his way. One day, his most hated co-worker, Ogor,
appeared in front of him and teased him some more which resulted in a violent fight
between the two of them in which Impen had won.