FILIPINO immigration to the United States started around the 1920s, when many Pinoys went to Hawaii as plantation workers. One of these families who decided to risk everything and pursue the American dream was Peter Aduja’s family. A native of Salindig, Vigan, Ilocos Sur , Peter Aduja came to Hawaii in 1928 at age 8 and grew up on the Big Island in Hakalau, where his father worked as a $1-a-day sugar plantation worker.
Aduja was an only child who never forgot the hardships of his early life and the sacrifices of his parents. He learned the value of education, did well in school, and fulfilled the hopes of his immigrant parents.
"We came from nothing. ... We slept on plain wooden boards and cooked over an open fire," Aduja described his early years in Hawaii. He graduated from Hilo High, majored in government and history at the University of Hawaii, and was one of 50 local boys who volunteered in 1944 and served with the U.S. Army’s 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment in the Philippines in 1945.
After his discharge from the military in 1946, Aduja taught briefly at Na’alehu Elementary & Intermediate School on the Big Island before earning his law degree from Boston University School of Law in 1951.
In 1954, Peter Aduja became the first Filipino American elected to public office in the United States. He won in his bid for a seat in the Hawaii House of Representatives. He served one two-year term and went to work for the Department of Attorney General.
He also served as a District Court judge from 1960 to 1962.
After statehood was achieved, he was elected three times, first in 1966, to the Hawaii House of Representatives. He also was elected as a delegate to the 1968 Constitutional Convention.
Peter A. Aduja was an attorney, patriot, politician and community volunteer who was a distinguished example of an American dream come true for Filipino immigrants. He maintained steadfast commitments to The Salvation Army’s adult rehabilitation center, Boys Scouts of America, Big Brothers of Hawai’i and more than 30 other community organizations.
Aduja married Melodie "Lesing" Cabalona and had two children, Jay Peter and Melodie, who eventually became a Hawaii State Senator. He died in 2007.
( Published on May 27, 2009 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p. B2 )
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