Memories of PFAC Palawan (Part 6)

 

HTC-PFAC TEACHER MARICOR TORRECAMPO  Shared some of her memories of PFAC Palawan. Please send me a PM if you wanna share yours. Every week, starting March 24, 2025. I will be sharing 2 memories written by members of the VOLAGS in the past.

 

Remembering PFAC Palawan (the VRC)

PFAC Palawan - Our Second Home

This is our new PFAC Palawan blog and Facebook cover.

This is the Caodaist Temple. It was located next to the Red Cross on the left on VRC Main Street.

This is the PFAC Palawan main gate. It had 24-hour military security provided by WESCOM and the Philippine government.

This is the IOM/ICM Office. It used to stand across from the Catholic Church.

This is the UNHCR Field Office in Zone One. Refuge interviews by different countries took place in this building.

This is one of the authentic boats which sailed across the West Philippine Sea from South Vietnam.

This is the Roman Catholic Church inside PFAC. The priests all came from abroad to serve the Christian population of the camp.

This is the main building of the Refugee Camp. You can see the Media Communication Center and the Mail Section on the left.

This is the PFAC Evangelical Church. It used to stand next to the Caodaist Temple and across from the Catholic Church.

This is the Buddhist Temple. It used to be located between the Red Cross and the Caodaist Temple.

 

This communal restroom was located in every zone. Refugee families had keys to access them and were responsible for their cleanliness.

 

For the record, PFAC was originally called 'The Vietnamese Refugee Camp' or the 'VRC'. PFAC stands for the Philippine First Asylum Center (or Camp).

 

JVA / IOM PFAC American Volunteer Karen

JVA / IOM volunteer Karen Inez from the United States of America volunteered her services to IOM and the United Nations serving Vietnamese refugees in Palawan, Philippines.

 

Some of the important tasks that she did was to issue IOM Bags - the large white plastic bag issued to refugees at the time of travel to the U.S. in order to carry medical and other documents, including the DS-2053, immunization records, and overseas chest X rays. 

JVA stands for Joint Voluntary Agency. It is now called OPE - Overseas Processing Entity.

First set of Photo collections from PFAC Palawan submitted to our blog by Karen Inez.