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FIL-AM Danny Mateo credits his father’s hard work for all the success he’s achieved in life.
Mateo is a member of the Maui County Council. He represents Molokai. He was appointed to by the Maui County Council to fill the vacant council seat of the late Maui County Council Chair, Patrick S. Kawano of Molokai in 2002. The community then elected him to the seat a few years later.
Father’s Hard Work
Like many second or third generation Filipinos in Hawaii, Mateo is the son of a sakada, a Filipino migrant who worked in Hawaii’s pineapple and sugarcane plantations.
Mateo’s father left Laoag City, Philippines in the mid-1920’s to work on a sugarcane plantation. He was being paid only $20 a month and raised nine children, with Danny as the eighth in the family.
As the head of the household, Mateo’s father instilled in his children the value of hard work, truth and belief in God.
Life was tough on the plantation but Mateo took it in stride.
"I really didn’t know I was poor. We never lacked for anything," said Mateo in an interview with FilAm Image Magazine.
After graduating from the University of Hawaii at Hilo, he settled on Molokai where he managed a Tropical Rent-A-Car and Rent-A-Mule. Eventually, he joined the Maui County as the Molokai Economic Development Coordinator.
He also served as a Public Relations and Community Liaison for Kaluakoi Resort.
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