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Miss Hawai'i Angela Perez Baraquio performs a traditional hula during the talent portion

of the Miss America Pageant in 2000 at Atlantic City, N.J. Baraquio,

24, an elementary school gym teacher who lives in Honolulu,

was crowned Miss America 2001.

100 YEARS IN FILIPINOS IN HAWAII

1898

Emilio Aguinaldo proclaims first Philippine Republic on June 12 at Kawit, Cavite, after U.S. naval forces

"defeat" a Spanish fleet in a mock battle staged to preserve Spain's honor by avoiding a surrender. In December,

Treaty of Paris is signed by the United States and Spain without any Filipino representation.

United States buys the Philippines for $20 million.

1899
Philippine-American War starts in February and lasts through 1902, but Filipino resistance continues until

1908. At least 250,000 Filipinos die in battle or from starvation, disease and other wartime hardships.

1901
U.S. establishes first civil government with William Howard Taft as governor. The Hawaii Sugar Planters

Association, or HSPA, explores recruiting Filipino labor for Hawai'i plantations.

1906
The first group of 15 sakadas — migrant workers — recruited by the HSPA arrive in Honolulu and are sent

to the Ola'a Plantation on the Big Island.

1909
A group of 554 sakadas arrive in Hawai'i, followed by 2,653 in 1910 and 1,363 in 1911. Sakada recruitment

intensifies, with 4,319 arriving in Hawai'i in 1912, followed by 3,258 in 1913.

1915
The Philippine government (under U.S. colonial rule) expresses concern about labor outflow and recruitment

abuses. HSPA works out a system of individual contracts.

1919
Pablo Manlapit organizes the Filipino Labor Federation to demand higher wages and better working conditions

for sakadas.

1920
Labor leaders form the Higher Wages Movement, but HSPA rejects demands. Filipino and Japanese workers

strike separately, and nearly 12,100 workers are evicted.

1924
Strike is called by Manlapit, and 16 Filipino workers and four policemen are killed in the "Hanapepe Massacre"

on Kaua'i.

1926
Sakadas comprise 50 percent of all plantation workers, displacing the Japanese as most numerous ethnicity.

1932
Manlapit revitalizes the Filipino Labor Federation with Antonio Fagel and Epifanio Taok.

Organizing focuses on Maui, and union is renamed Vibora Luviminda.

1940
Half of first-wave sakadas (1906-1930s) leave Hawai'i, either for the U.S. Mainland

or back to the Philippines.

1941
World War II breaks out, and martial law stops all labor organizing. The First and Second Filipino Regiments

of the U.S. Army see action in the Philippines.

1944
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, or ILWU, under Jack Hall's leadership becomes a s

trong political force by organizing ethnic workers, including Filipinos. ILWU grows to more than 30,000 in 1947.

In 1946, member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which included many Filipinos,

went on strike. The territory's economy was paralyzed, and soon the ILWU was a major political player.

1946
ILWU strike paralyzes the Island economy.

HSPA imports the last group of 6,000 Ilocano sakadas.

1947
Philippine Consulate is established in Honolulu, with Modesto Farolan as consul. Filipina writer

Ligaya Reyes Fruto joins staff and also writes for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

1949
Dock strike breaks out and lasts 157 days. Establishes ILWU as a major power in Hawai'i politics.
1951
Filipino workers on Lana'i, led by ILWU business agent Pedro de la Cruz, strike for 201 days.

Major worker benefits are won.

Pastor Pablo, president of the Filipino Chamber of Commerce dressed in a farmer's holiday attire in 1954

to celebrate the 48th anniversary of the arrival of Filipinos in Hawai'i.

1954
Lawyer Peter Aquino Aduja becomes the first Filipino elected a representative in the territorial Legislature.

Filipino Chamber of Commerce is founded, with Pastor Pablo as president.

1959
Hawai'i becomes the 50th state. The first statewide Filipino convention takes place, resulting in later

formation of the United Filipino Council of Hawai'i.

1962
Benjamin Menor is elected to the state Senate, first Filipino immigrant to win a seat there. His son, Ron Menor,

would later be elected a state senator.

1965
Liberalized immigration law allows family reunification and professionals to enter U.S., increasing the

number of Filipinos to 11 percent of the state population.

1972
President Ferdinand Marcos declares martial law in the Philippines. It would last 14 years, dividing

the Filipino community. Anti-martial-law movement is active in Hawai'i.

1973
KISA, the first Filipino-owned radio station in the U.S., opens in Honolulu. A core group of radio

personalities host Tagalog, Ilocano and Visayan programs. Emme Tomimbang starts her radio career with Morning Girl

program; father Tommy Tomimbang is engineer and hosts "Maligayang Araw" show.

1974
Benjamin Menor is appointed justice of the state Supreme Court, the first Filipino to

hold that position in any U.S. state.

1975
Eduardo Malapit is elected mayor of Kaua'i, the first Filipino-American to become mayor of a U.S. county.

The Center for Philippine Studies is established at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.

1982
Eight candidates of Filipino ancestry are elected to the state Legislature.

1983
The Aloha Medical Mission is established: Volunteer doctors treat indigent patients in the Philippines.

Would later send missions to other countries.

1985
Emme Tomimbang is named KITV anchorwoman, the first Filipino-American woman in the country

to become a TV news anchor.

Exiled former President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, joined in a chorus of

"I am a Filipino" at the couple's Honolulu home in 1986.

1986
The Marcos dictatorship is toppled, and he arrives in Hawai'i in exile. In 1989, he dies.

His preserved body stays in Hawai'i until 1992.

Sister Grace Dorothy Lim, originally from Ilocos Sur, Philippines, is named first woman chancellor

of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.

1990
Lorraine Rodero-Inouye is elected mayor of the Big Island, the first Filipino-American woman to

become mayor of a U.S. county.

Filipino population in Hawai'i reaches 170,000, or 14 percent of state population.

1994
Benjamin J. Cayetano, son of an immigrant from Urdaneta, Pangasinan, is elected governor of Hawai'i,

the first Filipino-American to occupy the highest office in an American state. He would be re-elected in 1998.

2000
Darolyn Lendio is appointed corporation counsel, the first Filipina to be named to a Cabinet position in

the City and County of Honolulu. Another Filipino-American lawyer, Abelina Madrid Shaw, is appointed deputy

corporation counsel, also a Cabinet position. Six Filipino-American candidates win state Senate seats.

Miss Hawai'i Angela Perez Baraquio performs a traditional hula during the talent portion

of the Miss America Pageant in 2000 at Atlantic City, N.J. Baraquio, 24, an elementary school gym teacher

who lives in Honolulu, was crowned Miss America 2001.

2001
Robert Bunda is elected state Senate president, the first Filipino-American in the U.S. to hold such a position.

Abelina Madrid Shaw is appointed chief of staff to Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris, the first

Filipino-American woman to occupy the position in the Honolulu government.

Angela Perez Baraquio becomes first Filipino-American to win Miss America title.

2002
The Filipino Centennial Celebration Commission is created by the Legislature to oversee 100th anniversary,

in 2006, of the first Filipino arrivals in Hawai'i.The Filipino Community Center is completed

and inaugurated after several years of raising government grants and private donations.

Five Filipino-American candidates are elected state senators and six win House seats.

2004
Five Filipino-American candidates for the state Senate and seven candidates for the House win.

Robert Bunda is re-elected Senate president.

\2005-2006
Yearlong observance of the Filipino Centennial starts Dec. 10 with opening ceremony at the

Hawai'i Convention Center.

Source: Belinda Aquino, director, Center for Philippine Studies, University of Hawai'i-Manoa


In contrast to the pensionados, most of the Filipino migrants to the United States during the colonial period came as cheap labor. During the first half of the twentieth century, Hawaii and California had agricultural economies requiring a constant supply of inexpensive, immigrant labor. Hawaii’s economy focused on sugar growing supported by plantation labor.


To sustain the constant demand for labor, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association (HSPA) conducted a systematic, organized recruitment of Filipino laborers. Labor recruiters went to the Philippines and set up recruitment centers in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, and Cebu. In 1906 the first fifteen Filipino laborers, all Tagalogs, came to Hawaii. Initially, the Filipinos were averse to come to Hawaii because of the distance and the wild rumors of alleged animals roaming the islands and devouring the people. But recruitment campaigns persisted and the "success" stories of the first repatriated Filipino sugar workers or sakadas, called "Hawayanos" in the Philippines, eventually encouraged Filipino migration.


The exodus of Filipinos to Hawaii was reflected in the statistics. In 1907, 150 Filipinos arrived in Hawaii. By 1909, 639 workers came and by 1910, there were 2,915. From 1911 to 1920, an estimated 3,000 workers arrived yearly. In 1919, there were 24,791 Japanese workers and 10,354 Filipinos representing 54.7% and 22.9% respectively of the total plantation labor force. The 1920s saw an average of 7,630 Filipinos arriving in Hawaii annually. In the 1930s, Filipinos had replaced the Japanese as the largest ethnic group of workers in the plantations. This was despite a temporary halt in the influx of Filipino migrants in the early 1930s due to the Great Depression. As a result of the Depression, a total of 7,300 sakadas were repatriated to the Philippines.


In 1935, the Tydings-McDuffie Law was passed. Aside from creating the Philippine Commonwealth, a ten year transition government prior to Philippine independence, the law also restricted immigration to the U.S. to only fifty Filipinos each year. The HSPA lobbied the U.S. Congress and was able to gain exemption from the law which guaranteed a steady Filipino labor supply until the onset of World War II.


Reasons for Filipino Migration to Hawaii
After the initial hesitation, Filipino migrant workers came to Hawaii because they perceived the islands as glorya (glory), a paradise of happiness and prosperity. Many of them came to Hawaii for the purpose of saving money to return home and live comfortably, i.e., to be able to buy their own house and lot, till a small farm, and get married. Until the 1940s most of the Filipino sakadas believed that they were only temporary residents of Hawaii.
Although the initial migrants were Tagalogs, succeeding ones were almost entirely Ilocanos. Due to the harsh living conditions and the limited economic opportunities in the Ilocos region, Ilocanos have been migrating to different parts of the Philippines since the nineteenth century to seek better fortunes. In the twentieth century, Hawaii and California were the most appealing destinations for adventurous Ilocanos.


Preference for Filipino Workers in Hawaii
Hawaii sugar planters preferred to import Filipino labor for several reasons. First, since the HSPA paid the Filipinos the lowest wage among the different ethnic groups in the plantation, it was cheaper to import Filipino laborers even if they were provided free passage to Hawaii. Second, since the Philippines was a U.S. colony and the Filipinos were technically U.S. nationals due to their colonial status, from the legal standpoint it was practical to hire Filipinos. As U.S. nationals, there were not covered by the exclusion laws barring the importation of the other so-called "Orientals," mainly Chinese and Japanese. Third, Filipinos were viewed as a leverage, an alternative labor to use against Japanese workers who were staging strikes to improve their conditions in the plantations. Fourth, because the Philippines was an agrarian country exposed to sugar growing, the HSPA felt that the Filipinos were suitable as sakadas. But sugar was not grown in Ilocos, thus Ilocanos, who comprised the bulk of the Filipino sakadas, were not really exposed to the its harsh working conditions. Fifth, the Filipinos were perceived to be docile, subservient, and uneducated and, therefore, would not join labor unions and be prone to strikes. Finally, the Filipinos proved to be industrious and hardworking.


The Filipinos who migrated to Hawaii were rural folks, many of whom had few years of education. The HSPA preferred to hire uneducated workers who knew nothing about their legal rights. The migrant workers faced numerous problems from the time they left the Philippines. While most of them were Ilocanos, there were also a few Bisayans or Tagalogs. Upon reaching Hawaii, they had to deal with more ethnic diversity. Linguistic differences hampered the workers’ ability to communicate with each other. It was also difficult to deal with the loneliness since they traveled without their women and family. But the worst problem was the long hours of strenuous, back-breaking hard work.







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