Our Vietnamese Brothers and Sisters

A SLICE OF VIETNAMESE REFUGEES HISTORY
in Palawan, Philippines

When the Vietnamese refugees started arriving in the Philippines in 1977, the Philippine government was caught off handed. Immediately the local governments and the military reported the situation to then Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. The first Lady Imelda Marcos and the Roman Catholic Churches in the Philippines immediately came up with the idea of housing the refugees in church properties including church dormitories and vacant rooms and beds in seminaries. This they initially did without any financial help from the outside world.

The religious organizations around the Philippines (especially Palawan, Mindoro, and Manila) decided to collect relief merchandise such as clothing, canned goods, cash donations, pens, paper etc. from the Filipino locals. To the amazement of the charity workers, they were able to collect a lot of donations even from the very poor Filipinos. University and college students all came together hand in hand to contribute. The Filipinos thought of what they could do for the Vietnamese people regardless of their own financial difficulties. For them they found enormous joy in helping the less fortunate. Many of them, including the clergies called the Vietnamese refugees brothers and sisters.

In the mid to late 1978, the UNHCR started sending financial help to the refugees through the Philippine government. The UNHCR in coordination with the Philippine First Lady Mrs. Marcos sat down together and came up with the plan of building refugee camps in Palawan, Bataan, and Manila. Filipino and American engineers and contractors together with the refugees themselves all collaborated in building the refugee camps in the Philippines.

In the year 1979, the refugee camps were established and with the help of the Philippine military, the camp in Palawan elected their own chairman to represent and govern their own  people. 

The creation of schools was perceived by then VRC Chairman Dr. Ky, who coordinated with the Dominican Sisters in Holy Trinity College and CADP.  HTC was in-charge of the children from 3 years old to 15 years old while CADP was in-charge of the 16 years old and above. The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) took care of the daycare program, which provided services for parents who were working as volunteers in different agencies in the camp. Pioneering teachers such as Andrew Taylor, Benny Ong, and Zenny Aguilar all worked on the volunteer capacity. They were completely unpaid but found true satisfaction in serving the refugees.

This is just a slice of the refugee stories in the Philippines. Please continue checking for updates.

Now that it has been 42 years, former Vietnamese refugees still visit Palawan and their former English teachers and still consider the Philippines as their second home. 

I hope that you will protect our history... One way to make sure that our story doesn't perish is the creation of a museum in Palawan that will happen soon.