RP allocates fund for refugee camp

RP allocates fund for refugee camp

MANILA (AFP): The Philippine government is releasing 500,000
pesos (US$2,000) to shelter Vietnamese made homeless after a fire
at their refugee camp last week.

President Fidel Ramos said in a statement released yesterday
that an emergency fund would be used to build living quarters and
provide for other immediate requirements of the displaced
Vietnamese.

Last Thursday's fire, caused by an overturned kerosene lamp,
caused serious destroyed the living quarters for 1,129 of the
2,909 Vietnamese living at the Philippine First Asylum Camp in
the western island of Palawan.

Those affected have been housed in an abandoned school, a
Roman Catholic church and a Buddhist temple inside the camp.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been urging
the Vietnamese in the camp to return home since most are unlikely
to be accepted for resettlement.