The Filipino Piecemeal Sugar Strike of 1924–1925

14. Manlapit’s Parole

109 14 Manlapit’s Parole NOT UNTIL August 13, 1927, after serving more than seven months beyond his minimum term, was Manlapit paroled, and then only on condition that he exile himself to the mainland United States for the remainder of his sentence. The Board of Prison Inspectors, or parole board, felt that his release locally would be ‘incompatible with the welfare of society.’ Three times Manlapit had petitioned for parole, and each time it had been granted on condition that he return to the Philippines—never to return, the board specified in its third reply. At first Manlapit refused, then he accepted the terms but changed his mind when his Hawaii born wife and children refused to accompany him. Mrs. Manlapit in a petition to the legislature averred that board chairman John W. Waldron, has made repeated threats to me and my children, that if we did not agree to go to the Philippines with my husband, Mr. Manlapit, then he would be kept in jail for the rest of his ten year sentence.1 Representative Norman K. Lyman had the matter investigated by the judiciary committee of the House of Representatives, which reported that the board had exceeded its powers in imposing a condition (permanent exile) which would continue after its jurisdiction over a prisoner came to an end.2 This mild rebuke and the publicity apparently had some influence on two members of the board, who recommended an unconditional parole. Waldron held out for exile at least to the mainland, and after ‘considering’ for a month Governor Far- 110 THE FILIPINO PIECEMEAL SUGAR STRIKE rington agreed with him. On July 27 the governor signed the parole; the next day Manlapit accepted it, although calling its terms “an example of unjust discrimination and unfair prejudice —because I am Pablo Manlapit instead of a burglar or murderer .”3 Although the parole was to become ‘effective forthwith ,’ Manlapit was held in prison for sixteen days and then taken directly to a steamer, where the attorney general handed him a ticket and a sum of money raised by his friends. Manlapit departed for Los Angeles declaring defiantly: I will return. I do not believe the people of Hawaii will forget me, and I think their memory will be refreshed from time to time by reports from the mainland.4 But in California Manlapit made few headlines. Most of the time he was busy making a precarious living at unspecified occupations. By August 1928 he had established himself sufficiently to be able to send for his family, which, however, later returned to Honolulu.5 In 1930 The Van Nuys Tribune referred to him as vicepresident of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce of California in praising his remarks after an anti-Filipino riot: It is very apparent that Mr. Manlapit is a man of tact and brains, and that he can make himself very useful at this time.6 Once, it is true, Manlapit was given conspicuous coverage in the Honolulu press. In February 1928 he was arrested, held several hours while his effects were searched by Los Angeles police, and released under surveillance. According to a United Press dispatch: Police declare that Manlapit has been leading an active campaign to place over 7,000 Filipino sailors in the United States navy under the dictates of the Communist Internationale . Manlapit also is charged with instigating a strike of 10,000 asparagus pickers in California and with attempting to undermine the Philippines [sic] Federation of America.7 Manlapit cheerfully accepted the third charge while denying the first two. Soon after his arrival in Los Angeles he had fallen in with Hilario Camino Moncado, holder of three doctor’s degrees earned in India at the age of nine, third representative Manlapit’s Parole 111 of God (after Jesus and Rizal), and founder in 1925 of the Filipino Federation of America, who had appointed him secretary of its labor department. Moncado perhaps saw in Manlapit a potential rival. Jack Butler wrote that : Moncado is apparently a much slicker bird than Manlapit is and there is some suspicion, I believe, that he doublecrossed Manlapit into the position of being a communist agitator and put the police after him.8 Manlapit had been offered an honorarium of $45 a week for a lecture tour under the auspices of the All-American Anti-Imperialist League, probably a Communist-inspired body, and he was arrested either after making...