Philippine Refugee Processing Center
Encyclopedia
The Philippine Refugee Processing Center (PRPC) was a large facility near Morong
, Bataan
, Philippines
, which was used as the final stop for Indochinese refugees making their way to permanent resettlement
in other nations.
Opened in 1980, PRPC was located to the south of Subic Bay
and north of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
. The camp prepared Vietnamese
, Cambodian
, and Laotian
refugees, including ethnic minorities (such as Chinese
) from those three nations, for immigration to a variety of resettlement nations such as Canada
, Norway
, Australia
, France
, and primarily the United States
.
PRPC was funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
and was capable of holding up to 18,000 refugees at any one time. Coupled with a large population of Filipino
and third-country employees, PRPC operated like a small city with school
s, hospital
s, libraries
, restaurant
s, sports facilities, fire brigades, sewage
treatment facilities, power generation facilities, water treatment centers, markets, and houses of worship for four religions.
The main functions of the camp were to hold the refugee population long enough to complete tuberculosis
testing, wrap up bureaucratic requirements before departure, and -- assuming the refugee was heading to an English speaking nation -- give them an opportunity for English as a second language
training. Virtually all refugees had confirmation before arrival at PRPC that they had been accepted to resettle in the West and therefore the mood among the refugee population was frequently upbeat and positive.
The ESL program was operated by the International Catholic Migration Commission
(ICMC
) and was funded by the U.S. Department of State. ICMC provided training to adult refugees aged 17 to 55. Aside from ESL classes, it offered Cultural Orientation (CO) and Work Orientation (WO). A similar ESL program was offered to children by World Relief
through an extensive primary education program that took place within classrooms throughout the site.
PRPC funding came to an end in the late 1980s as the wave of Indochinese refugees went from a flood to a trickle. The site was permanently closed and fell to looters and squatters, and eventually into disrepair by the early 1990s. By the mid-1990s, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines saw the error in allowing the site to be reclaimed by the jungle, and turned the it into the Bataan Technology Park, loosely associated with the new complex which had been built on the nearby site of the former Subic Bay Naval Base.
Morong, Bataan
Morong is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Bataan, Philippines. According to the latest census, it has a population of 27,119 people in 4,204 households. Subic Bay International Airport is located in this town...
, Bataan
Bataan
Bataan is a province of the Philippines occupying the whole of the Bataan Peninsula on Luzon. The province is part of the Central Luzon region. The capital of Bataan is Balanga City and it is bordered by the provinces of Zambales and Pampanga to the north...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, which was used as the final stop for Indochinese refugees making their way to permanent resettlement
Resettlement
Resettlement:*can refer to voluntary or involuntary human migration*can be a euphemism for forced migration*can be a euphemism for population transfer...
in other nations.
Opened in 1980, PRPC was located to the south of Subic Bay
Subic Bay
Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S...
and north of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
Bataan Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant, completed but never fueled, on Bataan Peninsula, west of Manila in the Philippines. It is located on a 3.57 square kilometre government reservation at Napot Point in Morong, Bataan...
. The camp prepared Vietnamese
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
, Cambodian
Khmer people
Khmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon–Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...
, and Laotian
Lao people
The Lao are an ethnic subgroup of Tai/Dai in Southeast Asia.-Names:The etymology of the word Lao is uncertain, although it may be related to tribes known as the Ai Lao who appear in Han Dynasty records in China and Vietnam as a people of what is now Yunan Province...
refugees, including ethnic minorities (such as Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
) from those three nations, for immigration to a variety of resettlement nations such as Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and primarily the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
PRPC was funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...
and was capable of holding up to 18,000 refugees at any one time. Coupled with a large population of Filipino
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
and third-country employees, PRPC operated like a small city with school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s, hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
s, libraries
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
, restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s, sports facilities, fire brigades, sewage
Sewage
Sewage is water-carried waste, in solution or suspension, that is intended to be removed from a community. Also known as wastewater, it is more than 99% water and is characterized by volume or rate of flow, physical condition, chemical constituents and the bacteriological organisms that it contains...
treatment facilities, power generation facilities, water treatment centers, markets, and houses of worship for four religions.
The main functions of the camp were to hold the refugee population long enough to complete tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
testing, wrap up bureaucratic requirements before departure, and -- assuming the refugee was heading to an English speaking nation -- give them an opportunity for English as a second language
English language learning and teaching
English as a second language , English for speakers of other languages and English as a foreign language all refer to the use or study of English by speakers with different native languages. The precise usage, including the different use of the terms ESL and ESOL in different countries, is...
training. Virtually all refugees had confirmation before arrival at PRPC that they had been accepted to resettle in the West and therefore the mood among the refugee population was frequently upbeat and positive.
The ESL program was operated by the International Catholic Migration Commission
International Catholic Migration Commission
The International Catholic Migration Commission is an international organization that serves and protects the needs of uprooted people, refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, with operations in 30 countries of the world, including Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Turkey.ICMC...
(ICMC
ICMC
ICMC may refer to:* International Catholic Migration Commission* International Computer Music Conference* The Indiana College Mathematics Competition...
) and was funded by the U.S. Department of State. ICMC provided training to adult refugees aged 17 to 55. Aside from ESL classes, it offered Cultural Orientation (CO) and Work Orientation (WO). A similar ESL program was offered to children by World Relief
World Relief
World Relief is an international relief and development agency. Founded in 1944 as the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, World Relief offers assistance to victims of poverty, disease, hunger, war, disasters and persecution. Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, the...
through an extensive primary education program that took place within classrooms throughout the site.
PRPC funding came to an end in the late 1980s as the wave of Indochinese refugees went from a flood to a trickle. The site was permanently closed and fell to looters and squatters, and eventually into disrepair by the early 1990s. By the mid-1990s, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines saw the error in allowing the site to be reclaimed by the jungle, and turned the it into the Bataan Technology Park, loosely associated with the new complex which had been built on the nearby site of the former Subic Bay Naval Base.