Vietnamese -boat people grow roots in VietVille Village, Palawan Islands PhilippineJonathan M. Hicap, Reporter
THE 16-year wait of 1,600 Vietnamese “boat people,†who has sought refuge in the Philippines after their country came under communist rule, ended last month when the United States agreed to grant them asylum.
On September 26 the first batch of 229 Vietnamese flew from Manila to Los Angeles in what was a milestone in their quest for recognition. The rest will follow in four to six months as they wait for their papers to be processed.
But there’s a fascinating sidebar to the story of the boat people. About 200 of them who are ineligible to go to the US have decided to settle in the Philippines.
One of them is Than Minh Dong. “I love Pilipinas,†says the 34-year-old Dong, who lives in Viet Ville on the outskirts of Puerto Princesa City, with his Filipino wife, Rosalie, and five kids.
The village sits on land provided by Mayor Edward Hagedorn of Puerto Princesa for the former refugees and is one of Palawan’s tourist attractions.
In June 1989 Dong was an 18-year-old, second-year college student when he and 79 other Vietnamese decided to escape Vietnam’s communist regime.
His family was particularly worried about Dong who could be drafted into the military. The escape took months to plan and his family paid $2,000 to reserve him a place in a wooden boat along with 90 other people.
The boat set out in the dead of the night. For six days, the passengers endured the cramped quarters, the heat and the heaving sea. Dong said the passengers brought enough food, but they could not eat because the drinking water was rationed. Each of them was limited to only two cups a day.
On June 29, 1989, the boat reached Zambales. A number of them were weakened by dehydration, but everyone survived the journey.
Dong was lucky. About 100,000 Vietnamese perished at sea trying to escape from their country. Those who made it lived in refugee camps setup by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bataan and Palawan.
More than a week after arriving in Zambales, Dong sent a telegram to his family in Vietnam to tell them he had reached the Philippines safely.
According to the 1997 report of the US Committee for Refugees (USCR), 42 refugees and 1,400 screened-out (determined not to be refugees) Vietnamese had arrived in the country by the end of 1996. About 800 of them were sent back to Vietnam.
When the UNHCR stopped funding the camps in 1995, the Philippine government thought of sending back the refugees to Vietnam, but the Hanoi government didn’t want them back. The refugees themselves refused repatriation and went on a hunger strike. The Catholic Church backed the refugees and criticized the Philippine government for abandoning them. The USCR said about 700 Vietnamese escaped the Palawan refugee camp for fear they would be shipped back home.
With pressure mounting from the church, President Fidel Ramos scrapped the plan to repatriate the Vietnamese. With this, the country became the only country to offer permanent refuge for the Vietnamese boat people, the USCR said.
The Catholic Assistance for Displaced Persons (CADP) setup Viet Ville in Puerto Princesa for the refugees.
On July 17, 1996, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and the Philippine government signed an agreement transferring responsibility for looking after the 500 or so Vietnamese families to the church.
In January 1997, the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development approved a resolution allowing the CADP to set up the refugee camp in Santa Lourdes, Puerto Princesa.
The Vietnamese boat people in the Philippines gradually learned Filipino culture and how to fend for themselves.
In 1995 Dong went to live in Laguna and continued his studies at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños where he eventually met his wife. They went to La Union and sold ready-to-wear clothes.
He and his family returned to Puerto Prinsesa in July 2004 to live in Viet Ville.
Viet Ville is a self-sufficient community. The CADP runs a noodle factory, a restaurant and a souvenir shop. The village also has its own churches and a temple.
Foreign and Filipino tourists visit the place to sample the Vietnamese food including the French bread.
To make ends meet, village residents work for the CADP in areas such as sanitation, maintenance, production and manning the restaurant.
Dong works as a floor manager of the restaurant. He said the pay is “enough [for them] to survive†and support his family. His eldest child is eight years old and the youngest is barely more than a year old.
After all these years, Dong has acclimatized to Filipino ways.
“My life is here in the Philippines. This is a second country to me,†he said.
He loves Filipino food (tinola is his favorite) and praises Filipinos for their kindness.
“Filipinos are generous,†he said.
But while he has grown to love the Philippines, he misses his family in Vietnam whom he has not seen for 16 years.
“They are still my family,†he said.
After the US lifted its trade embargo on Vietnam, the Hanoi government opened its doors to investors, tourists and former residents.
After 16 years Dong hopes to see his parents and siblings again. But he said he is enjoying his life in the country.
“You can’t buy happiness,†he said.
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