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Trailblazers

Probably the first Filipino American of note was Pedro Flores, the first person to mass produce the yo-yo at his small toy factory in California in the 1920s. In 1915, Pedro Flores immigrated to the United State and later studied of law at the University of California Berkeley and the Hastings College of Law in San Francisco.

Pedro Flores never completed his law degree and began his yo-yo business while working as a bellboy. In 1928, Flores started his Yo-Yo Manufacturing Company in Santa Barbara. James and Daniel Stone of Los Angeles financed machinery for the mass production of yo-yos. On July 22, 1930, Pedro Flores trademark registered the name Flores Yo-Yo. Both his yo-yo factories and the trademark were later acquired by the Donald Duncan Yo-yo Company.

Another field where Filipino Americans have been able to make a name for themselves is in the field of politics. Peter Aduja started the trend in 1955 when he became the fist Filipino American to be elected into office by becoming a member of the Hawaii State House of Representatives.

In 1975, Hawaii Governor John A. Burns convinced Benjamin J. Cayetano to run and win a seat in the Hawaii State Legislature despite Cayetano’s doubts about winning office in a white and Japanese American dominated district. Also that same year, Kauai’s Eduardo E. Malapit was elected the first Filipino American mayor.

After winning a seat in the Hawaii State Legislature, Cayetano went on to become the first Filipino American and second Asian American elected Lt. Governor of a state of the Union in 1987. He did better in 1994 when Cayetano became the first Filipino American and second Asian American elected Governor of a state of the Union.

On the mainland, David Mercado Valderrama became the first Filipino American elected to a state legislature, serving Prince George’s County in Maryland in 1987. In 1991, Seattle’s Gene Canque Liddel becomes the first Filipino American woman to be elected mayor serving the suburb of Lacey City.

A year later, Velma Viloria became the first Filipina American and the first Asian American elected to the Washington State Legislature. In 2000, Robert Bunda was elected Hawaii’s Senate President.

Filipino Americans also fared well in the judicial branch of government. In 1974, Benjamin Menor was appointed the first Filipino American in a state’s highest judiciary office as Justice of the Hawaii State Supreme Court. The second Filipino American to reach the court happened in 1993 when Mario R. Ramil was appointed Associate Justice to the Hawaii Supreme Court. Simeon R. Acoba Jr. duplicated this feat in 2000 when he was appointed Hawaii State Supreme Court Justice.

Filipino Americans are also known to be business-owners. Many are in the restaurant business, while others in the medical, dental, and optical fields have their own offices. They are also known as retailers and store owners. Among the more well -known Filipino Americans in the field of business are Diosdado Banatao, Silicon Valley engineer and businessman; Loida Nicolas Lewis, chairman and CEO of TLC Beatrice International Holdings and Founder of AALDEF (Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund); Josie Natori, CEO of Natori Company

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