A beaming Barbara, happy and content. (Photo courtesy of Sunshine Place Recreation Center)

LIVES WELL LIVED: Ad exec, writer Barbara 'Tweetums' Gonzalez remembered

Concepcion Barbara Cruz Gonzalez-Ventura – born in August 1944 during the Japanese occupation – was a descendant of the Rizal family, her great-grandmother Maria being Jose Rizal’s sister.

Known as "Tweetums," she lost her father, Vladimir Mercado Gonzalez, then 24, when he was taken by Japanese soldiers in the final days of World War II.

Raised by her single mother, the former Fe Arguelles Rizal-Cruz, in a household of women, she graduated high school from Maryknoll College in 1961 and attended the Institution Chateau Mont-Choisi in Switzerland.

“I grew up without a father,” she would later write. “There were no men in our family.”

When her first marriage to Ramon Tapales had ended (they wed in 1963, she was 18, he was 28), she took on the responsibility of raising their three daughters Risa, Sarri and Panjee on her own.

Her experiences as a solo parent would inspire her 1991 book How Do You Know Her Pearls Are Real? which bagged a National Book Award in the essay category in the same year.

Life in exile

In 1977 she separated from her common-law partner Roman Cruz Jr. the influential Marcos-era head of the Government Service Insurance System, Philippine Airlines, and Manila Hotel with whom she bore a son, Gino.

But it wasn't until 1984 that she went on exile with her daughters in San Francisco, California, residing there for four years.

Starting over, it was there that she became active in the anti-Marcos movement, initially writing for small newspapers that were read by the Filipino community.

She considers “Talk To Me, I'm Filipino,” published by WEST Magazine, San Jose Mercury News, on 13 April 1986, as “probably the best work I've ever done.”

A beaming Barbara, happy and content. (Photo courtesy of Sunshine Place Recreation Center)

Barbara, the corporate executive

Barbara held numerous C-suite positions.

At all-Filipino advertising agency Avellana & Associates, she rose through the ranks from copywriter to vice president for creative services.

Moving to multinational agency McCann Erickson, she was management supervisor and account director involved in the plum Coca-Cola account, helping increase market share from 30% to 60%.

A stint at  Avon Cosmetics as division sales manager for Metro Manila and Northern Luzon was later followed by Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines where she led corporate communications.

Upon the invitation of Eugenio “Geny” Lopez Jr. she assumed the role of general manager of the Manila Chronicle newspaper, which she held for two years. She described her time there as a baptism of fire when faced for the first time with the difficult task of having to fire an employee.

“She was a wonderful, luminous, and dignified woman with a great sense of humor,” writes Apa Ongpin, who had worked under Barbara at the Manila Chronicle, in a Facebook post.

Then, concurrent to being chair and president of the Coco-Cola Foundation Philippines, she would return to advertising as the first woman CEO of J. Romero and Associates (JRA), a homegrown firm.

At JRA, she had to vigorously defend Block and White, a skin whitening product she was instrumental in launching, when an unexpected backlash and controversy ensued over safety concerns. 

“In the beginning, media women were shocked that I should write about my life because, I admit, I have had enough scandalous moments and I showed no hesitation writing about them,” shared Barbara.“I was already 44 when I started to write a column. I realized that, while the media seemed shocked, my readers liked my columns.”

Acclaimed writer and author

Barbara's byline as columnist appeared in the Manila Chronicle, Manila Times, Metro Magazine, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Filipinas Magazine, and in the Philippine Star where she was associated with the longest.

In the beginning, media women were shocked that I should write about my life because, I admit, I have had enough scandalous moments and I showed no hesitation writing about them,” shared Barbara.“I was already 44 when I started to write a column. I realized that, while the media seemed shocked, my readers liked my columns.

Apart from How Do You Know Her Pearls Are Real? she also authored We're History! a memoir on history and culture.

Sunshine Place and marriage to Loy

Following her retirement from corporate life, Barbara became connected with the Sunshine Place Senior Recreation Center where she conducted writing workshops and “formed deep and lasting friendships” with its members.

Cris Moreno-Cruz, one of her writing students and collaborators, shared in a post“In our collaboration to create enlivening classes and events, she brought guidance, therapy, catharsis, joy and friendship to lives she has touched.”

In 2018 at 73 she married her beloved, lawyer Eulalio “Loy” Ventura, who was six years her senior. He died early this year due to complications from a stroke.

Last Friday, May 28, Barbara succumbed to cancer. She was 79.

“She led an exemplary life,” Ongpin said.

About the author
Ramon C. Nocon
Ramon C. Nocon

Features Reporter

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