Esther Tacdol Balala
Lucy Peros | Photos courtesy the Balala ‘Ohana
Having an education is very important to the family of this month’s Sakada Offspring, Esther Tacdol Balala. Her late father Herman Tacdol, a 1946 Sakada, once said, “Education is the best inheritance that we can give to our children and grandchildren. It is a passport for a better life.” Esther and her husband, Orlando Lomboy Balala, Sr. took this to heart.
Esther was born in August 1953 in Villa Moncada, Tarlac, Philippines. She attended Saint Anthony Grade School and High School and the Travel Institute of the Pacific.
Esther has worked at Hyatt Regency Kaanapali for forty-five years. She says her work as a waitress at the Hyatt Regency gives her great personal satisfaction. She meets a lot of new and interesting people from all over the world. It also gives her a chance to extend the Aloha spirit to those visiting our beautiful island. She also says she works with a wonderful Swan Court breakfast crew who are a bunch of happy employees and she is one of them who truly love their jobs.
Esther is married to Orlando Lomboy Balala, Sr. He retired as an HC&S lead electrician, transmission and distribution.
Their son, Orlando Balala, Jr., received his Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. He then moved to California where he worked at the UCLA Medical Center while obtaining his Master’s Degree. He attended the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) where he achieved a dual Master’s Degree and became an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and a Clinical Nurse Specialist. He is currently employed as a cardiology nurse practitioner at Harbor UCLA Medical Center. He is also an assistant clinical professor at the UCLA School of Nursing, where he trains students in the school’s Master’s program. He is married to Margie Mamuad Ramos from Ewa Beach, O‘ahu by way of San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte. Margie is also a nurse practitioner in internal medicine, where she works on a hospitalist service at Harbor UCLA Medical Center.
Together, they have two children, Noah Ramos Balala (13) who is a student at Tetzlaff Middle School, and Abigail Noelani Ramos Balala (7) who attends Mary Bragg Elementary in Cerritos, California. Noah was the former student body president at his school and has many passions. Currently, he is a trumpet player in the school’s marching band, jazz band, and concert band. He is on the school’s basketball and cross-country team. He is also a four-time Taekwondo champion. Abigail is an excellent student. She loves Kumon, excels in math and reading, and is also a two-time Taekwondo champion.
Orlando and Esther’s older daughter, Alexis Joy Balala, obtained her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. She has an extensive background of eighteen years in Emergency Room nursing. She finds great passion in her current role as an Emergency Department Nurse Educator and an Assistant Clinical Director in the South Bay California area. Alexis is the mother of Oliver de la Cruz, the eldest grandson of Esther and Orlando. He is fourteen years old and a freshman in high school. Oliver is a student in the Health & Medical Pathway Program at his high school which will help him prepare for college and provide exposure to the medical world and the various healthcare opportunities available. Like his mother, Oliver is very creative, artistic, and kind, and enjoys helping and making a positive impact on the lives of others.
Jasmine May Balala is the younger daughter of Esther and Orlando. She acquired her degree in Dental Hygiene. With over ten plus years of experience as a Registered Dental Hygienist, she has worked in private and corporate dental offices. She then transitioned to work in a hospital dental setting. Currently, she is a provider to chronic severe immunocompromised patients. Her perspective on dental care has changed since working in the hospital setting. This role allows her to bring expertise in preventive dental care to a population that greatly benefits from specialized attention, fostering trust and improving both their oral and systemic health outcomes. The shift to this environment has deepened her commitment to providing inclusive and empathetic care. She is also the mother to the Balala’s youngest grandson, Wes.
Esther and Orlando are typical grandparents: “Being grandparents of four grandchildren gives us great joy to see their smiling faces. We love to spend time with them whenever possible and we love spoiling them. We reward them whenever they do well in school and sports.”
Esther was a former shop steward of ILWU.
Esther has several hobbies and interests. She enjoys collecting Buddha figurines, oriental vases, and flowering plants whether real or not. She likes fashion and jewelry. Beautiful handbags also fascinate her. Dooney, Bourk,e, and MCM leather bags are her favorites because she says the workmanship is superb. She also enjoys traveling to Long Beach to visit her family and sometimes going to Las Vegas, Nevada to unwind. Her favorite machine to play there is the Wheel of Fortune slot machine. She also enjoys watching her favorite game shows, awards specials, and beauty pageants. She was a beauty pageant contestant in the Mrs. Filipina Beauty USA Pageant held at the Pacific Beach Hotel on O‘ahu in 1991. She says that after being placed on the roster, it dawned on her she had no talent to show. She was feeling despair and she even thought of walking away from the contest. She told herself, however, she was not a quitter. Her husband also helped her by saying to her: “Good luck and make an impressive delivery and you’ll do just fine.” She captured First Runner Up at that contest. She claims this pageant was truly a builder of confidence in her life and she will always remember what she learned going through the process made her a better person.
Esther has four siblings: Rogelio Tacdol-brother, retired, first Filipino who served as ILWU Division Director; Fernando Tacdol (deceased), Welder at Wailuku Sugar and HC&S; Victorina Tacdol Mamuad, a former sales assistant manager at Monarch Building Supply and retired from Hilo Hatties; and Leopoldo Tacdol (deceased), he was in construction.
Esther’s Sakada father, Herman Tacdol was born in Villa, Moncada, Tarlac, Philippines on April 13, 1916. His father, Anacleto Tacdol came to Hawai‘i in 1918 to work at the Wailuku Sugar Company. After World War II, many workers left Wailuku Sugar Company to find jobs somewhere else and so the company needed more men to work in the fields. So Anacleto Tacdol petitioned his sons Herman and Heronimo to come to work in Hawai‘i. Wailuku Sugar sponsored both of them. Both men were determined to come to Hawai‘i. They landed at the Kahului Harbor on April 27, 1946. It was a very emotional moment for Herman and Anacleto when they met for the first time since he left the Philippines in 1918. They did not recognize each other. They lived at Hopoe Camp, a camp located near the Wailuku Elementary School. Many who were recruited were afraid to come because they thought they were going to be sent to the war zone.
Herman Tacdol started working right away earning forty-six cents per hour. His jobs were cutting grass with a hoe, plowing the field with a manual plow followed by the planters with their sugar cane stalks cuttings (pula-pula), and he even made cement. He also experienced kumpang dollar in which the workers were assigned a piece of land, to work with by planting sugar cane and to take care of it until the sugar cane was ready for harvesting. After it was harvested, then they received their share of the profit.
When Herman came to Hawai‘i, he left his wife and young family in the Philippines. He was a well-mannered faithful man. He was always thinking of his beautiful wife, Petronila, and his family back home. He brought them all to Hawai‘i as soon as he was able to. They had a very modest home in Waikapū surrounded by a lush garden full of Filipino vegetables. Herman and Petronila had an incredibly happy and long married life. They were married for more than seventy years. When asked what the secret of their long life and long marriage was, Herman’s response was it’s eating different kinds of vegetables, especially the ones that grow in vines like beans (otong), bitter melon (paria), and especially kum-kumpitis (similar to a pea, only longer narrower and flatter.
Both Herman and Petronila were pro-education. They said education is a passport to good living and to never be afraid to tackle any job as long as it brings food to the table. They also had good advice to their contemporaries: have a good attitude towards life, help your children and grandchildren financially with their education because education is their best inheritance and to teach your children to respect their parents and grandparents.
Esther said the following about her father: I am grateful that my dad took the leap of faith of coming to Hawai‘i to work in the agriculture sector when the opportunity presented itself. He left the Philippines in hopes that he could provide a better life for his family. Shying away from hard work was not one of his traits so he labored and did whatever was asked or expected of him. After settling down, he brought his older children to Hawai‘i. In 1952, he returned to the Philippines because he missed his wife. Nine years later, my mom and I came to Hawai‘i to be reunited with the rest of the family. That was the first time that I met my dad.
My dad was very hard working and emphasized getting a good education, especially with us his children. He valued being respectful and being resourceful. He had a good sense of fashion and good dance moves. We uphold the values that he has instilled in us, and we pass them down to the younger generations, to our children and grandchildren.
Lucy Peros is a retired schoolteacher, having taught at St. Anthony Grade School and Waihe‘e Elementary School. Both of her late parents, Elpidio Cachero Cabalo (a 1946 Sakada) and Alejandra Cabudoy Cabalo of Hāli‘imaile, worked for Maui Land and Pine Company. Lucy now enjoys retirement and has time to join other seniors in the Enhance Fitness Program under the Department of Aging three times a week. She also attends the line dancing class and other activities at Kaunoa and joins other Waihe‘e School retirees when help is needed at the school. Lucy also devotes some of her time to activities at Christ The King Catholic Church. She enjoys writing and reading in her spare time.