Hawai'i’s Sakadas: The First OFWs
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Hawai'i’s Sakadas: The First OFWs
Foreshadowing Filipinos as a Global Labor Force
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Wednesday, Oct. 2 • 4 p.m. Hawai’i
Thursday, Oct. 3 • 10 a.m. Philippines
Event will also be streamed live via Facebook.
This conversation is for:
Employers seeking to fill workforce vacancies in their companies with overseas workersLabor trend observers curious to see how this impacts on Hawai’i’s labor issuesPolicy makers particularly in the federal level, since this involves migration policiesHawai’i residents with relatives who want to work in Hawai’i
Filipino workers can be found in hundreds of countries around the world—a true global labor force, with the sakadas’ to be the first recruited collectively in significant numbers in the early 1900s. Now, the Philippines has transnational apparatus of institutions that facilitate the out-migration of workers and a network of consular offices around the world that facilitate migration.
Because of this, a few employers have reached out to the Filipino Chamber for assistance in navigating the process of bringing workers to Hawai’i—using the US worker visa H-1 & H-2 classifications.
Featured Panelists:
Rhoda Yabes Alvarez has been admitted to practice law in Hawai’i, New York and the Philippines. She earned her JD at the Ateneo de Manila University and a Master of Laws in Commercial and Corporate Law at the University of London. She chairs the Workforce Committee established by the Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii (FCCH) to address the statewide demand for recruiting qualified workers from the Philippines to fill the staff requirements across various industries and services.
Macy Monique A. Maglanque was promoted as Labor Attaché II last September 2024, the youngest in the Philippines to date. She graduated from the De La Salle University in Manila with a business degree and an MBA from the University of London. She was posted in Singapore from 2017-21 and was instrumental for the increase of the minimum wage for the Filipino domestic workers. She is now serving as the Head of the Migrant Workers Office in Los Angeles where she has jurisdiction over the US West Coast, including Hawai’i, American Samoa, Alaska and Guam.
Joy Del Rosario is the President and General Manager of Petro-Fil Manpower Services Inc., which provides human resource management for the employment of Filipinos seeking jobs outside of the Philippines. Established in 2005, it is a recruitment agency based in Quezon City and has helped in the recruitment of teachers for the Hawai’i DOE and hotel workers for Hawai’i-based facilities in the hospitality industry. The company has deployed workers to the USA, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
SEASON FOUR
This event is part of a monthly series called Talk Story Sessions presented by HPBEC. Organized for charitable and educational purposes, the HPBEC facilitates the exchange of information and direction between Hawaii and the Philippines to strengthen its business and economic development links. We advocate for, and on behalf of, residents who consider both Hawaii and the Philippines as home.
