The Pineapple Fields

The Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association needed people for manual labor so they turned to the Philippines, where there was a large rural population. They recruited from two regions, the Visayas and Ilocos, looking for “unskilled laborers” to do 10 hours manual work a day in the plantation. In December of 1906, fifteen Filipino men arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii on the Doric. Eleven single and four married, all leaving behind their wives. The oldest was 56, and the youngest at 14. Five belonged to one family, headed by their father, Simplicio Gironella, and his four sons. The “First Fifteen” were sent to the Big Island of Hawaii, to Olaa Plantation, south of Hilo, and were assigned to live in the Japanese camp.

A total of 126,147 Filipinos came to Hawaii through the H.S.P.A. during four time periods between 1906 to 1946, mostly Ilocanos and Visayans - all indentured to a three-year contract. Within a span of 37 years, these Filipino recruits or “Sakadas” are known to have planted the “roots” of Filipino experience in Hawaii.