Tucked away in Sta. Lourdes, Puerto Princesa City, lies a place that tells a story beyond the turquoise waters and limestone cliffs that Palawan is known for. Viet Ville, or the Vietnamese Refugee Village, is a quiet community built in the late 1970s as a haven for thousands of Vietnamese “boat people” who fled their country after the Vietnam War. Palawan became their sanctuary, and with the support of the Philippine government, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the Catholic Church, the settlement thrived as a temporary home until the refugees could be resettled in other parts of the world.