LEGEND OF TALLIYAH

A tale whispered among the old residents of Jaro, preserved only through retellings. No record has ever confirmed its truth.

Among the old walls of the Lopez Cemetery along Quintin Salas, there is a story that refuses to disappear. The caretakers seldom speak of it, and the older residents tell it only in hushed voices after sunset.

It is the story of Talliyah.

They say she was born into a wealthy Ilonggo family sometime in the late nineteenth century. Though raised in comfort, she cared little for lavish parties or the expectations placed upon women of her station. Instead, she spent her afternoons wandering beneath old acacia and kapok trees, sketching weathered mausoleums and forgotten graves.

It was during one of those quiet afternoons that she met Rivo, the youngest grandson of the Lopez family.

Unlike the rest of his household, Rivo preferred solitude over social gatherings. He often wandered the cemetery grounds, believing that every grave carried a story worth remembering. Before long, Talliyah began joining him. The cemetery became their sanctuary—a place where the burdens of family names no longer mattered.

As the years passed, affection quietly grew between them.

Old storytellers claim Rivo loved Talliyah with a devotion that bordered on obsession. He often spoke of building her a home where no one could ever separate them. Talliyah would only smile and remind him that nothing in this world was meant to last forever.

Then sickness came to Iloilo.

Talliyah's condition worsened with each passing day. Knowing she would not survive, she made one final request to Rivo.

If she could no longer remain by his side in life, she wished to rest where they had first met.

She asked to be buried inside the Lopez Cemetery.

The tale says Rivo pleaded with his family until they finally yielded. Against tradition, they allowed Talliyah to be laid to rest within their private cemetery. To honor the woman he loved, Rivo ordered the construction of a grand mausoleum unlike any other on the grounds.

Yet it was never completed.

Some say the workers abandoned it after Rivo suddenly disappeared. Others insist construction stopped because no one was willing to continue after strange happenings were reported around the site. Whatever the reason, the unfinished mausoleum remained exactly as it was, and many came to believe it had been intended for Talliyah all along.

What became of Rivo has never been answered.

After Talliyah's burial, his name seemed to vanish from the history of the Lopez family. No marriage was ever spoken of. No descendants were remembered. No record explains where he went, or why his story simply ends.

To this day, visitors sometimes notice that the unfinished mausoleum feels colder than the rest of the cemetery. Others claim that on quiet evenings, a young woman dressed in white can be seen standing nearby, as though patiently waiting for someone whose footsteps never returned.

Whether these whispers are born from truth, grief, or imagination has never been proven.

Till now, no one can tell if this story is real or not—but one thing is for sure: her soul is still there.