Pablo Manlapit was an immigrant plantation worker who became the first Filipino lawyer in Hawai'i. But he earned his place in Island history as a powerful labor leader.
Born in the Philippines in 1891 to a working-class family, Manlapit was among the thousands of Filipinos recruited to work on Hawai'i plantations. He arrived in 1910 and worked at the Hamakua Mill Co. on the Big Island.
Although he had barely finished elementary school when he moved to Hawai'i, Manlapit studied at night and became a lawyer.
He organized the Filipino Federation of Labor and in 1920 led a strike that lasted two months. More than 8,300 striking Japanese and Filipino workers briefly brought the plantations to a halt.
But the plantations leaned hard on the strikers: They evicted them from company homes, hired strikebreakers and prosecuted strike leaders.
When the strike ended, Manlapit became the target of a smear campaign. He was accused of extorting money in exchange for calling off the strike.
Manlapit led workers again in 1924. More than 3,000 workers on four islands were involved in the eight-month labor dispute that began on Kaua'i.
It turned bloody when workers in Hanapepe armed themselves and captured two strikebreakers. A riot erupted, and 16 Filipino strikers and four policemen were killed.
Although he wasn't even there, Manlapit was tried as an organizer and sent to O'ahu Prison for four years before Gov. Oren Long granted him a pardon. Manlapit then went to California to organize Filipino workers.
Manlapit returned to Hawai'i in 1933 but was deported to the Philippines a year later. In 1969, he died of cancer. He was 79.
