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.