Peter Aduja

Peter Aquino Aduja (19 October 1920 – 19 February 2007) was the first Filipino American elected to public office in the United States. He was elected as a representative in the Hawaii Legislature in 1954.

Born in the Philippines, Aduja emigrated to Hawaii in his youth, and then served in the United States Army during World War II. After World War II, he worked as a teacher, before becoming one of the first Filipino lawyers in Hawaii. After two years in elected office, he worked for the Hawaiian Department of Attorney General, and served two years as a judge, until being elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives. Aduja died in Las Vegas in 2007.

Early life Aduja was born in Ilocos Sur in the Philippines and emigrated with his family at the age of eight to Hilo, Hawaii. He was raised in nearby Hakalau, Hawaii, while his father worked on a sugarcane plantation as a sakada. He attended Hilo High, where he was the student body president graduating with the class of 1941 as salutatorian. In 1953, along with Ben Menor (later a justice on Hawaii's Supreme Court), Aduja took the bar examination, and both became Hawaii's first Filipino lawyers.

Political career In 1954, Aduja was elected to the Territorial House of Representatives, becoming the first Filipino to be elected to public office in Hawaii and the United States. He represented one of three seats of the island of Hawaii. After a single term in office, he went on to work for the Department of Attorney General. After two years out of the public sector, in 1966, he was elected again to public office, this time as a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives. Aduja departed the Hawaii House of Representatives in 1974, Along with Alfred Laureta and Ben Menor, and a few other minor individuals, they were the few Filipinos in elected office or in significant public office in Hawaii in the mid-20th century. Aduja was survived by two children (one of whom is former Hawaii state senator Melodie Aduja ) and two grandchildren.