Bridging the Gap
Labor and employment in Iloilo, early 1900s
Iloilo was described by the Spaniards upon their arrival in the 16th century as already well-populated with centers of population in many places. The inhabitants were observed by the Spanish missionary, Fr. Casimiro Diaz, as "naturally docile than any other of the Pintados" and "very industrious in their rice farms." A French writer, Jean Mallat, on his part, added that the said people of Iloilo were "the most industrious." These accounts generally point to Iloilo's great labor potential.
With the opening of the Port of Iloilo to world trade in 1855, the simultaneous rise of the sugar industry offered a considerable employment to thousands of laborers who were hired as field workers for the tilling of the vast sugarcane fields, planting and cutting of canes, and also as cane millers in the milling districts. Others were stationed in the sugar warehouses along the waterfront as stevedores, most especially for sugar discharging and loading.
At the onset of the American occupation, additional spheres of employment 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 colonial 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 baskety, pottery-making, boat-building, carpentry, salt-making, and iron-works. Textile weaving was still practiced although not in great quantities as the way it used to be in the second half of the 19th century. Weaving was specifically a woman's domain which was a good supplement to the men's earnings in farming, fishing, carpentry, and in working in the sugar cane plantations.
The presence of a number of business, industrial, and service firms in Iloilo City also offered employment to a great number of workers. Business establishments required the services of salesperson, warehouse workers, cashiers, bookkeepers, and collectors. Restaurants absorbed many workers as waiters and waitresses, cooks, and cashiers. Many were employed in bus companies, taxicabs, and livery stables. Still others found their way to printing presses or publishing houses. The unskilled one served as helpers in the households of the affluent and merchant families.
Public works, especially the major ones such as port works, the Panay Railways, roads and bridges, and government buildings also offered long-term jobs to Ilonggo workers.
Although not as yet widely popular as in the present, overseas employment among the Filipinos, and 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 (Philippine Overseas Employment Adm., Iloilo City). As reported in the 1921 issue of the Makinaugalingon, these workers in Hawaii were paid P1.00 per day with free lodging and water facilities but without free food.
Aside from Hawaii, the US mainland 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. (Makinaugalingon, Marso 30, 1921).
When the U.S. Joined war in Europe during the First World War, 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 vadaderos (ship repairs) and gained higher wages in dollars which when converted to pesos may range from P9.00 to P40.00 a day, depending upon one's expertise (David 1937).