The Book of Conception Briones "Life in Old Parian names two branches of the Gandionco, Cresencio Gandionco who married Petra   Gantuagco Veloso and Filomino  Gandionco  son of Guillermo, Filomino was married to Gertrudes Gantuangco.  It describes  Cresencio as the Uncle of Filomino.  Not much is said about Cresencio except that he had a big hacienda in Leyte.  Most of the  Stories centered on Filomino Gandionco and their family. Maybe because Conception was close to this Branch.  Another branch  that i 
 discovered is Gervacio Gandionco Who was Married  to Eleuteria Reynes,  Most of the family members are residing in Manila or  Cebu.  Definitely this branches are related but at this point  in time it is difficult to connect the three branches family  relationship.   Further research and maybe a trip to the Philippine Archives will be able to provide more information on this The purpose of this  family tree is to establish family relations of the Gandioncos and maybe have a family reunion.



THE GUILLERMO BRANCH

The family tree and the book are very interesting because it shows how the Gantuangco & Gandionco  families intermarried. The book in particular shows that the Gandionco's are related to other  leading families in Cebu for example the Osmenas, Escarios, Gantuangcos, Velosos, Climacos, Singsons, Reyes Fortichs,  Regises, Espinas, etc. You can actually see the Gandionco's appear in their family's trees. Further, there is a  picture of the old family home in Parian (close to the corner of Colon & Mabini Streets) before it  was burnt during WWII.

Apparently the Gandioncos original ancestor was from Spain (they later intermarried with Filipino  Chinese). They were very proud Basques. And as you know, the Basque and the Spanish don't particularly like each other.  Sometime in the 1800's our ancestor sided with the Filipino Revolutionaries who fought against Spanish rule. He was  responsible for organizing and  the dragging of all the cannons

SPELLING OF FAMILY NAME: According to the book the original spelling of our surname is with a "G"  i.e. GANDIONGCO. I quote the following from page 15. "Likewise, very noteworthy is the fact that the descendants of Parian's  old families today, no longer use the old spelling of their family names. Examples of these are the Chiong Velosos who are  now know as Chong Velosos, the Gandiongcos who have called themselves Gandioncos, the Rafinan's who, since many years  past, have added another "F" to their family name, thus: Raffinan."

HOW THEY HAPPEN TO LIVE IN ANAHAWAN: From page 17 of the book, I quote: "Don Filomeno Gandiongco,  my uncle by affinity, was one of the three sons of Don Guillermo Gandiongco of Parian. Besides Filomeno, Senor Oyong's  two other sons were Hilario and Hospicio while his five daughters were Celestina (later the wife Don Lazaro Osmena), Victoria  (wife of Don Gregorio Escario), Filomena, Eugenia and Guillerma. A wealth uncle of No Minoy (your great grandfather) was  Don Crescencio Gandiongco who lived in the Tinago district near Parian and had big haciendas in Leyte. It was Senior Cencio  who encouraged No Minoy and his young wife, Gertrudes Gantuangco to go to Anahawan, Leyte, where the pastures were  greener and where he started to develop his own hacienda."

WHERE DID THEY LIVE IN CEBU:
 From the book, apart from Anahawan, the Gandiongco's also had two houses. One in Parian and the  other F Ramos Street. Page 67 of the book has a picture of the old house. The citation is as follows: "Old Plaza Parian seen  from the Sikatuna side showing corner Mabini and Zuleta Streets where the houses of Luis Sidebottoms (left) and the  Severino Rodriguezes right) faced each other. My father made a notation on the photo showing Filomeno's house and had  written: "Our house before it was burned in WWII". That house was rebuilt after WWII which eventually my father inherited.

There is one other thing I remember peculiar to this property. It must have been very old because  the fence is made of very large heavy blocks of limestone. The type you see in very old fortificatons. It is still there today.  When my father was renovating the house, one of the workmen hit a stone and it cracked. Behind the stone was a very solid  wooden door. And despite its age, it was in a relatively good condition. We wondered why there was a door there so we dug  some more. What we discovered is that it lead to the next street behind the property. One can only surmise that the door  was meant to be a secret quick get away. So the question arises, who would need such a secret escape hatch? And why was  it eventually buried behind an additional layer of limestone blocks? I can only guess that it might have been our original  ancestor who was involved with the Filipino Revolutionaries. I could be wrong but I don't think Filomno or his descendants  would have any use of such an escape mechanism.

THE CRESENCIO BRANCH

CAN SOMEONE FILL IN SOME STORIES OF CRESENCIO GANDIONCO

THE GERVACIO BRANCH



Taken from the BooK  "Life In Old Parian" written by Conception G. Briones

Thanks to Rica Marie Gandionco Conci for her contribution about the Gandionco's as well as the old  pictures of the family
 Many thanks to Aura Gandionco Canga and Art Gandionco as well As Rodolfo Gandionco Jr. for their contribution in adding more  names to the family tree