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Surviving Filipino sakadas in Hawaii honored

MANILA, Dec. 29 (PNA) -- Philippine Consul General to Honolulu Gina Jamoralin joined the Filipino-American community in Honoka’a Town in Big Island, Hawaii to celebrate the 2nd Sakada Day in Big Island, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.

Sakada Day is a commemoration of the legacy of the 125,000 Filipino workers (“sakadas”) who arrived in Hawaii between 1906-1946.

They were recruited by the Hawai’i Sugar Planters Association (HPSA) to work in Hawaii’s sugar and pineapple plantations.

The Sakada Day celebration, now on its 2nd year, was made possible by Hawaii House Bill 604 passed by the Hawaii State legislature in 2015. It was signed into law by Governor David Ige on April 09, 2015.

The law proclaims the celebration of Sakada Day in Hawaii on December 20th of each year.

The first 15 Filipino sakadas recruited by HPSA sailed from Port Salomague in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur.

After a year-long journey over rough seas aboard the SS Doric, they arrived in Honolulu on December 20, 1906 and were assigned in Ola’a (Keaau) sugar plantation in the Hawaii’ Islands.

By the mid-1920s Filipino sugar workers formed more than half of the foreign workers in Hawaii.

The last 6000 Filipino sakadas arrived in 1946 and dispersed throughout the islands. Many of them were assigned to plantations in North Hilo to Honoka’a in Hawaii Islands.

The Honoka’a Sakada Day celebration was organized by Hawai’i Island Sakada Day Committee, Hamakua Filipino Centennial Committee and the North Hawai’i Education and Research Center of the University of Hawaii–Hilo.

Three surviving original sakadas who belonged to the last batch of sakadas who arrived in 1946 attended the celebration and were given certificates of recognition by the Mayor of Big Islands, Mr. Harry Kim.

Now in their 90s, the surviving sakadas who were honored during the event are Mr. Bernardo Abella, Mr. Pedro Dominguez and Mr. Marcelino Querubin.

Consul General Jamoralin encouraged the present and future generations of Filipinos in Hawaii to share the story of the early Filipino sakadas of Hawaii saying that theirs is a story of survival and sacrifice fueled by a pioneering spirit that that spurred the succeeding waves of Filipino migration to Hawaii. (PNA)

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