Gacias: A Historical Background (Second Part)

Bulusan

Glicerio Gacias attests that the first unknown ancestor came from a place which is now the urban center of the town of Bulusan. Glicerio Gacias, now 101 years old and still as strong as people half his age, is the oldest surviving member of the clan. Bulusan, a one hour drive from Sorsogon proper, is one of the four oldest regions in the Tierra de Camarines -- now also known as the Bicol Region -- established by the missionaries. The three other oldest regions were Labo, Isarog and Mayon.

The town of Bulusan is located at the eastern part of the province of Sorsogon facing the vast Pacific Ocean. At a time, it became a part of the province of Albay. The province of Sorsogon, which currently includes the municipality of Bulusan, was separated from the province of Albay only on October 17, 1894.

Irosin

Perhaps, driven by a spirit of adventurism, three of the sons -- Octato, Cenon and Nicolas -- settled in a new village called Hin-ay, now the municipality of Irosin. Irosin, formerly Hin-ay, was then a mere sitio of the town of Bulusan. Now a second class municipality, it is the only inland town in the province of Sorsogon and nestles right at the foot of Mount Bulusan.

Octato

Octato, the eldest son, settled in a place which is now Barangay San Agustin -- the original settlement of Hin-ay. He sired one son, Pastor, who in turn sired one son, Faviano. Faviano bore two children -- Gloria and Felix. Gloria lived in Manila and unfortunately, nothing more was heard about her since. Felix, on the other hand, sired several children. More unfortunately, however, and indeed very sadly, it is now probably impossible to determine their exact number and much less, to be able to know them. Felix sold all his children to Chinese merchants perhaps for adoption or worse, for slavery. His children and their descendants now constitute the missing Gaciases.

Octato Gacias
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Pastor
(Severa Santiago)
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Faviano
(Dorotea Gallanera)
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Gloria --------------------------Felix

Cenon

Cenon, the second son, settled in Macawayan, now a barrio of Irosin, just a kilometer away from the town center. He sired three children -- Jacoba, Severo and Urbano. Severo and Urbano later settled in the barrio of Casini, a place located in the southern past of the municipality and just about three to four kilometers away from the town center. Today, the numerous Gaciases in the barrio of Casini in Irosin are all indebted to Severo and Urbano.

Nicolas

Nicolas, the youngest son, like Octato, settled in a place which is now Barangay San Agustin. According to accounts given by Glicerio, he was a poblador. He was accordingly kind and hardworking. He sired two sons -- Pedro and Pantaleon. Pedro had six children -- Sabiniano, Asuncion, Maria, Monico, Glicerio and Melania. While Pantaleon sired three children -- Gerarda, Roman and Ines. Today, the Gaciases living in the poblacion of Irosin and its neighboring barangays and barrios are practically descendants of Pedro and Pantaleon.

Bernardino

Bernardino, the third son, however, separated from his three brothers and settled in San Roque, a barrio of Bulusan. San Roque is about twenty minutes away from the poblacion of Irosin and around the same time away from the poblacion of Bulusan. Hence, it is practically midway the town proper of Irosin and the town proper of Bulusan.

Bernardino sired two sons -- Felipe and Maximo. Felipe sired three children -- Daniel, Benito and Celestina. While Maximo sired eight children -- Alejandro, Isidoro, Eulalia, Irene, Eduardo, Eulogia, Juliana, and Gloria. Their descendants are scattered in the different barrios of Bulusan, from San Roque to Dancalan and Buhang.

Other Gacias Lineage

There are other Gaciases in the town of Irosin, both in the poblacion and in the neighboring barrios. This is mostly attributed to another lineage of Gacias: that of Catalino and Hilario.

Catalino and Hilario were brothers. Their father is unknown to us today. Nevertheless, it is established that they had a sister named Sixta.

Catalino lived in and became a municipal councilor of Bulusan. He sired five children -- Rosario, Librada, Ropo, Arsenio and Domingo. Sixta's whereabouts were unknown. Nevertheless, it was established that she was the second child and did marry. Hilario settled in Irosin and sired five children -- Bonifacio, Amicia, Quirico, Marciano and Ruperto. Most of their descendants live in Irosin today.

As of date, the link between the lineage of Catalino, Sixta and Hilario and the lineage of Octato, Cenon, Bernardino and Nicolas, has not yet been clearly established. It will be included in a later and updated edition when that missing link shall have been established with certainty or with convincing documentation.

But while this particular link has not yet been established, it is worth mentioning here that descendants of both lineages observe close kinship among themselves. Indeed, it is also worth mentioning that several relatives, descendants of female Gaciases who already lost their family name by marriage and now with various family names still claim close kinship with the Gaciases.

The Northern Gaciases

In the northern part of the country, particularly in Cagayan and in the Batanes islands, live several families with the family name of Gacias. There is for instance Dr. Felix Gacias of the Batanes cousins and Lt. Col. Renato Gacias of the Cagayan cousins. Lt. Col. Renato Gacias was awarded with the medal of valor by then Chief of Staff Gen. Fabian Ver during the Marcos regime. Unfortunately, he was killed in 1989 in a military field operation.

It is worth mentioning that one objective of this blog is to establish links with our northern cousins.