Bridging the Gap
By Prof. Henry Funtecha

Labor and employment in Iloilo, 1930s

At the onset of the American occupation, additional spheres of employment to what was already existing during the Spanish period were made available to the Ilonggos. The putting up of schools in answer to America's emphasis on education created considerable employment not only to the construction workers but also to the educated who were trained and soon hired by the government under the US Philippine Commission, as teachers. The institution of government agencies also created employment to thousands of qualified public servants.

Aside from agriculture and fisheries, various industries were also good means of employment to the Ilonggos. Some were engaged in basketry, pottery-making, boat-building, salt-making, carpentry, etc. Weaving was still a major industry although not in great bulk as the way it used to have been prior to the rise of the sugar industry. Weaving was specifically a woman's domain which was a good supplement to the men's earnings.

The presence of a number of business, industrial, and service firms in the city also offered employment to a great number of laborers. Business establishments required the services of salesperson, warehouse workers, cashiers, bookkeepers, and collectors. Restaurants absorbed many workers as waitresses/waiters, cooks, and cashiers. Many were employed in bus companies, taxicabs, and livery stables. Still others found their way to printing presses/publishing houses. The unskilled ones served as helpers in the households of the affluent and merchant families.

Public works, especially the major ones such as the port works, the Panay Railway, roads, and bridges also offered long-term jobs to Ilonggo workers.

Although not yet as widely popular as in the present, overseas employment among the Filipinos, and the Ilonggos for that matter, had already been significant as early as the 1900s. Labor migration among Filipinos began in 1900 when Hawaii experienced severe manpower shortage. Two hundred Filipinos initially went there and were followed by more until they formed about 70% of Hawaii's plantation labor. As reported in the 1921 issue of the Makinaugalingon, these workers in Hawaii were paid one peso per day with free lodging and water facilities but without free food. But for those who were able to work straightly for twenty consecutive days in one month, were paid P 4.75/day. One Ilonggo worker informed the Makinaugalingon that many Visayans were also there.

Aside from Hawaii, the United States was also then a haven for Filipino workers. In 1915, more than 2,000 Filipinos, mostly from Hawaii, migrated to and sought employment in the U.S. Most of them started as fishermen of big American fishing companies operating in Alaska waters and received P200.00 to P320.00 for the whole season the moment they return to the U. S.

When the U.S. joined the war in Europe, many Filipinos were recruited as soldiers. After the war, they received a considerable amount from the U.S. Government. Thus, they were able to set aside some savings. Henceforth, many Filipinos found employment in blacksmith in the varaderos (ship repairs) and gained higher wages in dollars which when converted to pesos may range from P9.00 to P 40.00 a day, depending upon one's expertise.

Prosperity among the rich, however, was only made possible through the utilization (and to some degree, exploitation) of the laborers whose lives were (and even up to now) associated with poverty. The capitalistic and feudalistic socio-economic system typical of the Spanish regime was still evident in the American period, especially among the vast sugarcane plantations or haciendas in Iloilo and Negros, The sacadas or migrant sugarcane plantation workers from Panay, mostly from Antique working in the Negros plantations, usually returned to their hometowns as poor as (if not poorer than) when they left for Negros.