Happy 40th Birthday, PFAC!
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. The first
Lady and the Roman Catholic Churches in the Philippines immediately came up
with the idea of housing the refugees in church properties in Puerto Princesa,
including church dormitories and vacant rooms and beds in Saint Joseph Seminary.
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, school supplies 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 so much 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 aid to the refugees through the Philippine government. The UNHCR in coordination with the Philippine First Lady sat down together and came up with the idea of building temporary refugee camps in Palawan- the Vietnamese Refugee Camp (AKA PFAC), PRPC in Bataan, and Jose Fabella Center in 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
military (WESCOM), the camp in Palawan elected their own chairman to represent
and govern the camp population.
The
creation of schools was conceived 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 14 years old while CADP was
in-charge of the 15 years old and above. Pioneering teachers all worked on the
volunteer capacity. They were completely unpaid but found true satisfaction in
serving the refugees.
Now
that it has been 40 years, former Vietnamese refugees still visit Palawan
Island and their former 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.
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