There was once a beautiful woman in Silay named Rosa Jalandoni. She was so beautiful that her suitors form a queue from her doorstep down to the main highway. And they were not just ordinary suitors. All the great men of Negros like sugar barons, politicians, and mestizos from direct Spanish bloodlines were among those who begged for her hand.
“Marry me, Rosa, and together we shall run my hacienda in Talisay,” said Joaquin Lacson, 28 years old, inherited his family’s 75-hectare sugar cane plantation.
“Will you be my first lady. Rosa Jalandoni?” offered Jose Luis Torres, 30 years old, recently elected Mayor of Bago.
“I am Juan Vicente Araneta y de Luzuriaga, son of Gregorio Jose Araneta y Ledesma and Maria Socorro de Luzuriaga y Hilado,” introduced a 27 year old suitor from Bacolod. “My family will be glad if I could take you home as my wife.”
So it seemed that the offers were substantial and whoever Rosa would choose was good enough. Joaquin, Jose Luis, and Juan Vicente, though, were just visitors in a single day. The next day, more would come with more offers.
But Rosa would not falter. She was 25 years old and never given her sweet ‘Yes’ to any man who courted her. It wasn’t that her parents were strict. She didn’t have a parent to begin with. She lived alone in her house a short walk away from San Diego Cathedral and her nearest relatives were said to be in Iloilo. She sold flowers in the church for a living. At the back of her house was a well tended garden of red roses.
When asked why her roses were the most beautiful in Silay, Rosa would say, “It’s because I’m beautiful.” Of course it was a joke. And then Rosa would continue, “Honestly, I don’t know. Maybe because I loved these roses more than anything in the world. More than anyone…”
In her diary entry dated September 6, 1915, Rosa wrote:
[“I had a hard time dealing with my suitors today. There was one who came from Cebu and I had to attend him longer for his efforts in coming over. There was an old man who recently lost his wife. There’s a doctor who said he would treat his patients for free if I could be his partner for life. And someone who is suicidal.
These men don’t know what I’m looking for. I don’t need their money, their names, their properties. It’s sad to say but these men who knock at my door every day are just wasting their time. There are other girls out there. Why me?
I don’t know what I’m looking for either. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life doing chores for a man. The thought of bearing a child scares me. I don’t want any man to ruin me. I don’t want to ruin myself.”]
Hence, the men never stood a chance. Everyday, after the men left Rosa Jalandoni’s house, they would end up in the pubs drinking liquor to forget their heartaches and miseries. There were two or three who were rumored to commit suicide. One lost his mind, tried to break in Rosa’s house but failed and was missing since then.
For years, Rosa gained fame by the name of La Rosa de Silay, the rose that stood above all others, the rose that no men could pluck. And it was said that whoever could win the heart of The Rose of Silay, that man shall be the luckiest in the world.
In July 1917, the Silaynons were disturbed of some shocking news. Within three weeks, four young men were found dead in different places within Silay. The authorities believed that there’s only one suspect in the crimes. Autopsies revealed that the men suffered hypovolemic shock. Or in layman’s words, they simply died due to severe loss of blood. The bodies didn’t show sources of bleeding other than the two holes on the neck of the victims.
Obviously, only a vampire could be the culprit. But nobody thought of a vampire. In 1917, the people of Silay never heard of a vampire. A few aristocrats who were able to travel in Europe could suggest of the possibility. But none of those aristocrats cared of what’s happening in the lower society.
People needed answers, nonetheless. They would do everything to put the blame on someone.
“Three of those men were seen visiting that Rosa’s house prior to their deaths.”
“I know that she’s the culprit. That woman is mysterious. I heard she wants to be an old maid. She killed those men for that purpose.”
“Ever wondered why her roses are so red?”
There were those who envied Rosa Jalandoni for her flowers. Not all who had seen the beauty of her roses were pleased. Some people were obsessed on finding the secret behind Rosa’s garden. So when the murders were announced, they made up stories involving Rosa and her roses in the crime.
In her diary entry dated July 27, 1917, Rosa wrote:
[“I don’t want to live in this place anymore. People are no longer safe. I’m sad to know of the deaths of Ferdinand, Enrique, Fausto, and Claudio. They were such nice gentlemen. If only they liked someone else. What’s worse? People think I’m involved with their deaths. It’s pathetic! I mean…how could I be involved in such diabolical acts? The Virgin Mary as my witness, I could never get involve myself in such unforgivable sins.
I also heard this rumor that people are beginning to think I’m feeding my flowers with witchcraft. Insane! Imagine them telling their children that I killed those men and poured their blood on my roses. How could they think of me that way?”]
There were a lot of inquisitions. All the men were warned since the targets were usually male of ages 20-30 years old. The investigations led to only one major suspect: La Rosa de Silay.
“How dare you blame me and my flowers for all of this!” Rosa exclaimed when she was being questioned. “Yes, they visited me prior to their deaths. But that doesn’t mean I’m responsible!”
“There’s a speculation that you were feeding your plants with the men’s blood. The victims were found dead and dry.” The investigator was hesitant to ask about it but he did for the benefit of the doubt.
“Who were these people spreading the rumors? I’m speculating they’re those who also sell their flowers in the church too. Don’t you see? They’re using this series of events against me, against my flowers! They always envied my roses!”
In the end, Rosa Jalandoni was declared not guilty. Of course, two of the councilors and one of the investigators were madly in love with her. The truth was, they could not actually find enough evidence involving her in the crime. As a result, people became even more curious of Rosa’s roses. Not that her sales dropped because of the alleged blood feeds. Actually, more and more people bought those beautiful bright red roses.
The courting continued. The luckiest man in the world turned out to be Miguel Caridad II. He’s not a sugar baron, not a politician, and did not come from any of aristocratic families. At the age of 27, it seemed that Rosa finally wanted to settle down. And she found that thing that she had been unconsciously looking for in a man.
“Why do you love me?” Rosa asked the suitor Miguel.
“I don’t love you. I love your roses. I fell in love with them since I bought one from you at San Diego Cathedral.”
“Then why did you come at my doorstep? You can leave.”
“I want to marry you, Rosa…that I may have the honor to take care of the flowers that you also love as much.”
Two months later, Rosa and Miguel were married.
In her diary entry dated November 14, 1917, Rosa wrote:
[“I can’t believe I’m getting married. My late grandmother Honorata used to tell me to value my womanhood more than anything in the world. She wasn’t really my direct grandmother. She’s the sister of my real grandmother whom I never met. Lola Honorata was an old maid and maybe she influenced me much in everything. She told me that womanhood is to be a virgin all my life, to be untouched by those dirty men. I believed her.
Not anymore when I met Miguel. He’s different. I decided to marry him but I don’t know if I could let him touch me. I’ll let things be. What if Lola Honorata was wrong? What if womanhood is about being corrupted by manhood to justify her essence?”]
However, Rosa’s married life only lasted for a week. In November 22, 1917, her husband Miguel was found dead in her garden, dead and dry. And Rosa didn’t have any time to grieve. People found a powerful evidence against her, and her roses. The rumor about her witchcraft was revived and this time, no councilor or inspector could protect her.
People came with sharp bolos and binangons. Each of the women had a torch. In the night of November 27, 1917, the people of Silay marched into Rosa Jalandoni vda. de Caridad’s house and condemned her as Satan’s harlot.
“Come out you merciless witch! We got you cornered!”
“Burn the roses! Burn the bloodthirsty roses!”
“You blinded us all with your beauty. Come now and taste the wrath of Silaynons!”
The last page of Rosa Jalandoni’s diary said:
[“At last they have come for me. May it be. Miguel’s gone and I have nothing to lose. I am not scared of death. If my Lola Honorata was right, then death is nothing but an overture. I’m worried, though, of my roses. My innocent roses! They’ll burn them for sure. Oh Virgin Mary I beg you, spare my dear roses. I leave everything to you.”]
La Rosa de Silay surrendered herself to the angry mob that night. Innocent she was but she no longer cared. She begged the people not to destroy her garden. But her pleas made the people even angrier. They all decided to destroy all the roses of Rosa Jalandoni until the last bloom. All because of the rumors that they were fed with blood. All because of the rumors that the shrubs burst to life at night and attack people with their thorns and suck their blood. All because of the rumors.
That very night, all the roses in the garden of Rosa Jalandoni were burned to ashes.
Rosa Jalandoni committed suicide in her cell on December 5, 1917.
In February 15, 1918, the authorities captured a man who was confirmed responsible of the deaths of a total of 21 men in Silay. His name was Godofredo Hermoso, 25 years old, homosexual, and Bram Stoker fanatic. Godofredo confessed his crimes when he was caught red handed trying to kill a man using a yard long 2x2 block of wood with two protruding tips of nails at the edge. Confiscated in the criminal’s house was a hardbound copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula published in 1897.
In 1935, the owner of the lot where the house of Rosa Jalandoni once stood tried to make a garden. She called it a miracle when some of her marigolds bloomed with red petals. In April 1989, a building was being erected on the same lot. When the construction workers were digging their holes, they discovered 15 skeletons buried in the ground. The skeletons were believed to belong to a group of women in the late 1800s who were raped, mutilated, and were buried alive by Spaniards.
In June 13, 1990, Ernesto Jimenea, the last of those people who condemned and attacked Rosa Jalandoni for her alleged witchcraft, died at the age of 93. Driven by his guilt for the last seven decades since the death La Rosa de Silay, Ernesto offered a painting to the public in memory of the roses in the garden of Rosa Jalandoni. Prior to his death, he told a tragic tale of long ago about a woman who was so beautiful that her suitors form a queue from her doorstep down to the main highway and that she loved those bright red roses in her garden more than anything in the world, more than anyone.