PHILIPPINES: PHILIPPINE TROOPS FORCIBLY REPATRIATE 89 VIETNAMESE REFUGEES BY AIRCRAFT

Record ID: 646220

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: PHILIPPINE TROOPS FORCIBLY REPATRIATE 89 VIETNAMESE REFUGEES BY AIRCRAFT
  • Date: 14th February 1996
  • Summary: PUERTO PRINCESA, PALAWAN, PHILIPPINES (FEBRUARY 14, 1996) (RTV - ACESS ALL) 1. SV VIETNAM AIRLINES PLANE ON TARMAC 0.03 2. SV LUGGAGE ON TARMAC 0.06 3. SV REFUGEES INSIDE ISOLATION ROOM, CRYING 0.26 4. SV TROOPS GUARD LOCKED ISOLATION ROOM 0.29 5. SV REFUGEES CRYING INSIDE ISOLATION ROOM 0.35 6. SV REFUGEES ON RUNWAY 0.38 7. SV REFUGEES SHOUTING AT TROOPS 0.52 8. SV REFUGEES WRESTLING TROOPS TO RETRIEVE PROTEST BANNERS 1.14 9. SV REFUGEES BEING FIRE-HOSED 1.22 10. SCU REFUGEES CRYING 1.25 11. SV REFUGEES WITH PROTEST BANNERS 1.30 12. SV REFUGEE BEING FORCED TO BOARD PLANE 1.46 13. SV REFUGEES INSIDE PLANE 1.50 14. SV REFUGEES BOARDING PLANE 1.55 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 29th February 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PUERTO PRINCESA, PALAWAN, PHILIPPINES
  • City:
  • Country: Phillippines
  • Reuters ID: LVA7D3XUQMV1CVI2VQWW34PDYHSL
  • Story Text: Philippine troops forced 89 Vietnamese asylum-seekers onto a repatriation flight on Wednesday (February 14), despite a last-minute attempt by hundreds of other Vietnamese to block the plane's take-off.

    Marines fired warning shots into the air and used a water cannon to disperse inmates who broke out of a nearby detention camp and crowded in front of the Vietnam Airlines Airbus A320.

    The troops forced the protesters back inside the camp on the southwestern Philippine island of Palawan by troops.

    Marines also used force to compel several of the 89 men, women and children to board the flight.

    One man had to be dragged up the steps of the aircraft by three Marines. Women who tried to lie down on the tarmac were forced to their feet.

    Despite the use of force, Major General Carlos Taniega of the Philippine armed forces said the 89 who took the flight had done so voluntarily.

    "Only those on board were those who volunteered to go," Taniega, head of the military's western command, told reporters.

    But one witness commented: "It didn't look voluntary because they were dragging people on to the plane." Taniega said troops were under orders from the presidential palace in Manila to ensure the repatriation was voluntary.

    The Philippines, along with other southeast Asian destinations for thousands of so-called boat people, is committed to sending home all those who have been denied refugee status and entry into third countries.

    The boat people exodus began after the communist victory that ended the Vietnam War in 1975. The Philippines has some 2,700 Vietnamese, all in the Palawan camp.

    "Our intention is to repatriate all of them before the end of June 30, 1996," Taniega told reporters. "We really have to bite the bullet. There is a limit to our hospitality." Camp guards transferred 143 men, women and children to a holding area in a barracks near the air strip earlier this week in preparation for their repatriation.

    Around dawn, troops transferred 89 of them to a departure area near to where the plane was parked.

    Taniega said those who were left behind on Wednesday had refused to go voluntarily.


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