Oldest surviving sakada in Hawaii honored on 103rd b-day

MANILA, Philippines - Not even arthritis stopped a retired “sakada" in Hawaii from being honored by the Philippine consulate after celebrating his 103rd birthday last week, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported on Tuesday.

Juan Cube, born on March 5, 1905, is the oldest surviving former sugar cane plantation worker who was among the 50 Ilokanos who hopped on a Japanese ship in 1924 and landed in the US island-state.

Consulate officials, led by Philippine Consul General to Honolulu Ariel Abadilla, Consuls Lourdes Tabamo and Paul Raymund Cortes visited Cube’s modest home in Waipahu where they gave the centenarian a birthday cake with a Philippine flag and the traditional Hawaiian lei.

The DFA acknowledged the immense contributions of Filipino sakadas in Hawaii, noting that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo herself unveiled a statue in 2006 commemorating the centennial of Filipino immigration to Hawaii.

The Filipino-American community of Hawaii accepted the gift at the Filipino Community Center in Waipahu.

Cube told the Honolulu Advertiser in an interview that he hopes to celebrate his 105th birthday in 2010 along with his 10 children, 22 surviving grandchildren and 36 great-grandchildren in the US.

Aside from eating mostly fish and vegetables, Cube confessed that a bit of dancing pumps him up through the day.

"You gotta love music, make you live if you love music!" said the Tarlac-native. - Mark J. Ubalde, GMANews.TV

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