A Filipino community leader who rallied to fight eviction of tenants from a mill camp on Oahu in the 1970s has died.
Pete Tagalog died Monday morning at Pali Momi Medical Center after a lengthy illness. He was 80.
Tagalog was the son of a sugar mill worker. He was in his 40s, married with several children and studying at Leeward Community College to become a merchant seaman when he became the leader of an effort by about 130 residents to oppose their eviction from Ota Camp in Waipahu.
A developer who had bought the land from former property owner Tatsuichi Ota wanted to build apartments.
The tenants lived in homes they had built themselves near the city landfill close to Waipahu Depot Road, and many residents who were immigrants said they could afford to live nowhere else.
Tagalog, with broad support, was able to secure land for residents at West Loch from the city. With support from ILWU union leader Hideo "Major" Okada, the state helped to relocate and build the houses, initially as low-priced rentals with the option to buy.
"Pete represented the underdog," said John Verzon, then a college student who supported the protest. "He came from humble beginnings. … Most of all, he had a fighting spirit."
Verzon, who later worked as a state and city administrator, said Tagalog was able to bring together the community and young supporters to feel ethnic pride and strive for "something fair and just."
Verzon said Tagalog was able to speak on behalf of those unable to fight back and express themselves.
Melinda Tria Kerkvliet, a former University of Hawaii instructor and director of Operation Manong, said Tagalog actively sought advice and support from older residents in Ota Camp and had the ability to work with a broad range of people outside the community.
Friends said Tagalog formed alliances with Native Hawaiian groups as well as Asian-American professionals, who provided political and financial support.
"He was able to tap the resources outside. … He was good in that way," Kerkvliet said.
Friends said Tagalog not only worked to coalesce support within Waipahu, but also visited other areas threatened with eviction, such as Chinatown and Kalihi, to share his experiences and talk about what he felt was the right of people to have affordable housing.
He also saw the importance of ethnic history and was among the community leaders who brought hundreds of residents to the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1972 to help students retain a threatened Ethnic Studies Program.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
