By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

THE first stories I heard about Barbara “Tweetums” Gonzalez-Ventura were from an equally vibrant personality, the late Josefina Geslani-Lolarga, who spoke glowingly about her book, “How Do You Know Your Pearls are Real?” I never read this book.

In 2011, I was a member of the preparatory meeting to celebrate the legacy and the 100th Death Anniversary of Teodora Alonso, mother of Jose Rizal. In that meeting organized by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), the descendants were present, including Tweetums, who related a “not-so secret” secret of her clan, which she narrated in detail in her column, Second Wind under the title, How did they really feel?” She asked:

“Why did we not tell these stories before? Why did we keep them secret? The friars are long gone. The world has changed. These stories don’t diminish women. It makes them heroic. And yet these stories were only whispered about through five generations even if today they read like a telenovela plot. Imagine all the emotions suppressed. Don Francisco Mercado – how did he feel about all the things happening in his family? How did he feel about his wife’s handling of all her little brother’s problems? Was he not a bit jealous? Saturnina? What made her succumb to her uncle? Was it love or was it child molestation? How did everybody feel?”

We listened to her animated story-telling. Historian Fe Mangahas was not so surprised. Gemma Cruz Araneta was not surprised either. Other descendants present acted like they’ve heard the stories many times before. The fact is, everyone seemed to know the secret. Tweetums continued:

“Dona Teodora Alonso was my great-great-grandmother. She was the mother of my great-grandmother Maria Mercado, Jose Rizal’s older sister. As I age I cannot help but be in awe of their lives. In the end I struggle with only one important question whose answer I will never know. That question is: How did they really feel?”

According to historical accounts, Teodora Alonso was the second child of Lorenzo Alberto Alonso, a municipal captain in Biñan, Laguna and Brijida de Quintos, whose roots trace back to Lingayen, Pangasinan. Historian Arabela Arcinue has come across some proof from an old document, a photocopy of the Last Will and Testament of Manuel de Quintos, who stated that he had three children including Brigida de Quintos.

After that meeting, we became friends on Facebook, where I read about her thoughts in her column “From the Heart” published by the Philippine STAR’s Sunday Lifestyle Section. In it she shared her joys and struggles, her hobbies and preoccupations, and most important, loving her late husband, Loy Ventura, who was then 79 years old, whom she married, lovestruck at the age of 73. Here she bared her heart, there were no secrets, only love. But really, who knows? She reminds of a poem I wrote in August 2021, “The Scars on the Face of the Moon”.

“ …. how much of him does he keep
for himself, I wonder
how much of him is known
that he thinks he keeps, to himself?

I see his face, or someone else’s face
a parenthesis to the secrets
a glimpse of the tragedies
unending commas of memories
he lives, and relives … ”

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