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c h a p t e r t h r e e Vicissitudes of Fate Philippine First Asylum Camp on the island of Palawan was the least harsh of the large Southeast Asian detention centers. Unlike the steel cages surrounding the Hong Kong camps, the perimeter fence in Palawan consisted of a few strands of wire that presented no barrier for detainees who wished to climb over them. But they didn’t need to, since with only a cursory check they could freely enter and leave the camp at its two gates. Within the camp, they could move without restriction. Detainees were allowed to operate small businesses, and these dotted the camp: noodle shops, restaurants with full Vietnamese meals and regional dishes, jewelry stores, tailor shops, barber stalls and beauty salons, two bakeries, and sundries shops. The camp contained Catholic and Protestant churches, as well as Buddhist and Cao Dai temples. Schooling and vocational training was extensive, and health care was the best of all the Southeast Asian camps. An elected council represented the interests of the camp residents. A wide variety of social services, sports, coffee shops, fruit and vegetable gardens, social clubs, and leisure activities relieved the boredom of camp life. The standard of living exceeded that of local residents. The Philippine government insisted on the humane treatment of the Vietnamese asylum seekers. As a rule, the guards of the Western Command dealt humanely with the detainees, though relations deteriorated markedly in the final months of the CPA, heralding the closing of the camps and the threat of forced repatriation. The major aid agency in Palawan, the Catholic-run Center for Assistance to Displaced Persons (CADP), was a staunch advocate of comprehensive services and the protection and humane treatment of detainees. Unlike other CPA countries, Philippine national interests were consistent with UNHCR’s principles for the protection of asylum seekers. • 40 • Yet stresses were high in the Palawan camp, especially for those awaiting the decision on their application to be resettled as refugees. In her pre-CPA comparative study of camps, Linda Hitchcox suggests that for short periods of time, harsh physical conditions were less important as a stress-producer than other causes. Although camps in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Thailand were organized somewhat differently, Hitchcox claims that internees at all these camps experienced similar frustrations. Those who stayed less than two years were affected less by barbed wire and guards than by how they evaluated their chances of being repatriated. This is why the levels of anxiety and depression in Palawan were comparable to the high levels of anxiety in the more harshly regulated Thai camp of Phanat Nikhom.1 But the physical environments of the harsher camps took their toll on detainees who remained for more than two years, which was the situation for most post-CPA unaccompanied minors. In our interviews in 1991, we also found that unaccompanied minors in Palawan camp were highly stressed. Friends, foster parents, and counselors tried to give them support, but they were no substitute for parents and blood relatives . Therapists whom we interviewed called attention to several issues, including fear of interviews and rejection, the boredom of daily life, uncertainty about V I C I S S I T U D E S O F F A T E • 41 Minimal fence surrounding Palawan First Asylum Camp, the Philippines. Such fences contrast with the high barbed-wire fences of the Hong Kong camps. Photo: James M. Freeman. the future, and mixed messages. Some people in the camp told them to hang on and they could get resettled. Others told them that if they had no parents in a third country, they would have to go back. Some children received letters from their parents telling them not to come home. An American therapist who worked with unaccompanied minors commented to us that a frequent source of stress was “unwanted pregnancies. While abortions are legal in Vietnam, they are illegal in the Philippines.” There were complications from botched abortions . If she gave birth to a child, the young mother, although a minor, was not allowed to give up the baby for adoption; she feared rejection by her family in Vietnam and abandonment by her boyfriend. The children feared that they would be pushed into the violent political demonstrations that erupted in the camp. Separation from relatives was a major source of stress. Younger children, 9–11 years old, wanted to be in foster families and then were devastated when the...

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