Bree Jonson’s Cousin, Mother: Suicide Not Her Style
Bree Jonson will be buried today in Davao City amid cries for justice from her family. Her mother and cousin believe that despite her struggles as an artist, she loved life and lived it to the fullest.
Artist Bree Jonson’s successful exhibit last February made her so excited that she decided to pursue her plan to finally set up her own studio in La Union, according to her cousin.
Aside from this, there were many other things that she wanted to do. Her cousin Jill Palarca disclosed Jonson’s artworks were still selling even months after her exhibit, as per her gallerist Tina Fernandez.
In an e-mail interview with The Philippine STAR/ OneNews.PHon Tuesday, Sept. 28, Palarca said her 30-year-old cousin chose La Union as her new residence to “start” a new life and “not end it.”
“I've known her since she was born,” Palarca noted.
Jonson died of asphyxia or loss of air as shown by the ligature mark on her neck based on the autopsy report, police said. She was found unconscious at a resort in San Juan, La Union on Sept. 18. She was with her boyfriend, Julian Ongpin.
Palarca, who is 13 years older than Jonson, recounted that she used to babysit her cousin and described the late artist as someone creative since she was a child.
Jonson was also a cool and nonchalant person, possibly the reason why she “underestimated this guy,” Palarca said, referring to Ongpin.
“She's usually cool. She's unfazed by danger. And that is why her mother trusts her so much. She knows how to take care of herself,” Palarca added.
Palarca also noted her cousin was always quiet and “very pensive which could easily be mistaken for suicidal.”
Suicide not her style
Although she had mental health issues, the family members and closest friends of the late artist would know that “suicide is not her style,” Palarca said.
“Yes, she may have developed some mental health issues but don't we all? Plus, she's an artist,” Palarca stressed. “She's always heavy with thoughts but even her closest friends at any point in her life can attest that suicide is not her style.”
She said they were aware that Jonson had taken antidepressants to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and no one should be prejudiced for it.
Earlier, police reported they found antidepressants in the room where Jonson was found and an identification card issued by the Manila local government showing the late artist as having psychosocial disability.
“And that is even proof that this is a person who values self-care. When you agree to (take) prescription [medicines], it means you have committed yourself to get better,” she said.
“Plus, we have a pandemic. Even the most mentally healthy person I know is even taking antidepressants now to cope with this crisis,” she pointed out.
Palarca disclosed their lawyers saw the crime scene and that there's nothing in the comfort room that would be strong enough to hang a human body.
CCTV footage
In a statement released on Sept. 23, Jonson’s legal team narrated what took place based on the closed-circuit television or CCTV footage at the resort. They said their client and Ongpin had a heated altercation before she was found unconscious in the room.
“The two were in and out of their room for a few minutes before they eventually locked themselves in. Around 20 minutes thereafter, Julian went outside and climbed to the fourth floor,” the statement read.
Jonson’s camp said Ongpin then went down and grabbed a ladder, positioned it against the wall that has the room’s bathroom window.
It added that Ongpin did not go inside the bathroom window as he just removed the jalousies. “He climbed the ladder and removed three layers of jalousie.”
Based on the statement, Ongpin stepped down and came back with a hostel staff to open the room with him.
“Breanna’s body can now be seen from the lobby’s CCTV. Not long after. The incident was reported to the authorities and the police arrived. She was brought to the hospital and declared dead on arrival,” it added.
According to Palarca, the medico-legal report of the hospital that received her showed signs of struggle and it was the police report that contradicted that.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is still doing a parallel investigation into the incident, Palarca said.
Ongpin was arrested and charged with possession and use of illegal drugs after he was caught with 12.6 grams of cocaine. However, the La Union provincial prosecutor freed him from jail due to alleged technicalities, but police maintained his drug case had been filed for further investigation. Jonson was also found positive for the same drug.
‘She has a lot of dreams’
Amid the issues surrounding her death, Jonson’s mother, Salome or “Sally” said her only child had many dreams and “is doing a lot of good things” to achieve them.
“Ang dami na niyang accomplishments, but she’s still moving forward because her passion for arts is so big, so high,” Sally said in an interview during her daughter’s wake at a funeral chapel in Quezon City last Saturday, Sept. 25. Her light blue casket was adorned with white flowers.
But Bree – or Breanna Patricia Jonson Agunod – was “an ordinary person,” according to Sally. Growing up, she was close to her cousins, made a lot of friends, and enjoyed her time reading and immersing with nature and animals.
“She grew up pretty much an ordinary kid, she has friends and she’s happy. Dami niyang pinsan sa side ko…si Breanna, she adjusts to a place so easily,” she said.
Bree was also a consistent honor student, Sally emphasized, and finished her industrial engineering degree at the Ateneo de Davao University.
Bree later enrolled in fine arts at the University of the Philippines Diliman but she dropped out after a semester.
“She texted me casually, ‘Ma, I think I’m gonna quit school.’ Ganoon lang. ‘After ko pumunta ng Manila and set up an apartment for you all of a sudden bigla kang mag-quit?’” Sally recalled telling her daughter.
Sally said Bree already wanted to penetrate the art industry instead of studying further.
Bree, fondly called Trixie by her family, would never want a corporate job and instead “be her own boss,” Sally said. “‘I don’t want to be a slave for a company,’ paulit-ulit niyang sinasabi sa akin.”
Bree spent her childhood switching between Los Baños, Laguna, where she grew up, and Davao City, where they came from. She got oriented to painting as Sally would send her to Manila every summer to live with her father and attend art classes.
Sally – a graduate of veterinary medicine – said her daughter was fond of books and shows that mostly tackled the wildlife.
“When she was a kid she would get a textbook ko and read…In fact ang favorite niyang book na kinukuha…ay necropsy procedure of animals, bubulatlatin niya iyon then titingnan, she’s so fond of looking at it,” she narrated, adding she would also choose to watch nature-themed television channels like National Geographic and Discovery Channel.
Thus, it was no surprise that Bree’s art pieces focused on the wildlife.
Sally also remembered Bree as a “very deep person who loves to talk.”
“Ang dami niyang sinasabi, ang dami niyang topic, never ending. Pero minsan, parang kakainin ka kasi ang lalim, tapos mapapaisip ka ‘oo nga ‘no,’” she said.
Sally bared her daughter was thinking she still got a long way to go as an artist and was very focused to achieve her goals.
‘Very responsible’
Sally – who has been working in Canada, also admitted that Bree was battling with depression and anxiety, aside from the pressures she had to deal with in the arts industry.
“Sa kanya naman, maybe because she lived alone, and siyempre in the art scene it is something nayou have to prove yourself as an artist,” Sally said.
She added her loss of a primary support group – coming from a broken family and being the only child – could have added to her pain.
There were things that Bree never told Sally because “she does not want me to worry.”
However, Sally asserted Bree was responsible enough to fight her own battles. “I can say my daughter is a very responsible person because she addressed it by seeking professional help. It only means she is addressing depression.”
Being a “very scientific person,” she added Bree availed the services of both a psychiatrist and a psychologist.
“These people who address depression, they wanted to be healed,” she underscored.
Despite her struggles, Sally doubted Bree could have reached rock bottom.
“Si Trixie, hindi naman siya overwhelmed with fame. She’s taking a step at a time, meron siyang plan and she wants to go to that goal but inaaral niya iyon and she’s doing a lot of risks,” she shared.
Sally said Bree was also planning to put up an art school for children, where Bree and her friends would teach how to paint and sculpt.
Sally also revealed that when Bree moved her art studio from Manila to La Union, she took it as sign that her daughter might be entering the next phase of her art journey.
“Maybe because of the pandemic, she was looking for a quiet place where she can just relax and enjoy life and think,” she said.
Sally added Bree confided her plan to transfer her art studio to La Union after her artworks boosted her earnings.
“I’m so proud of what she has achieved at a very young age, ilang years pa lang siya sa arts scene pero ang dami na niyang nagawa, ang dami na niyang shows.”
Bree’s remains were flown to Davao City, where she would be laid to rest beside her grandmother, Sally’s mother, today, Sept. 29.
