The 1St.
Philippine Civic Action Group
In
July 1966 the 196th.Light Infantry Brigade arrived in Tay Ninh to
establish a Base Camp. They would deploy their base camp just west of the City
of Tay Ninh on the west side of a 3000’ air field in a tapioca field. This camp
would later be known as Tay Ninh West.
The 196th.
Brigade, with in weeks, would be joined at their base camp by the 1St.
Philippine Civic Action Group. This unit took up residence on the east side of
the run way at Tay Ninh West. Their arrival would be unremarkable and with out
much notice. The group consisted of Combat Engineer Battalion (2000 men) from
the Republic of the Philippines. This unit would be designated, “Philcagv”
The mission of the newly
arrived Philcagv would not be the same as the 196th, whose base camp
they would share. The mission of the Philcagv would be to win the hearts and
minds of the Vietnamese people through civic action responses. They would work
with the Vietnamese people building roads, schools, hospitals, and set up aid
stations to medically treat Vietnamese civilians. The Philippine Congress
earlier had restricted their mission to one of a non-combat role. Even though
the role of the Philcagv was humanitarian, they would take causalities through
out their stay through sniper attacks, land mines and booby traps.
The Philippine
troops, even though they had a different mission and a different part of the
base camp, would go on to establish long and lasting relationships with some of
the men of the 196th. They were a warm and friendly people who would
share their family’s hospitality with American troops going to the Philippines
on R & R.
The Philippine
involvement in the Vietnamese War would begin as early as 1961 when the United
States policy toward Vietnam would seek help from other nations in South East
Asia to stem the flow of Communism. The United States believed that if Vietnam
fell to Communism, Malaysia, The Philippines, and then Australia would
ultimately be taken over. The United States government felt it was the duty of
the Democratic nations of the South East Pacific to help in the struggle in
Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson would reaffirm this position in April 1964
when he directly appealed to those nations for “More Flags” to be seen
in Vietnam.
Philippine
President Ferdinand Marcos citing the Philippine membership in the South East
Asian Treaty Organization would go on to ask the Philippine Congress to commit
troops to Vietnam. Secretly, Marcos would only agree to the U.S.’s request only
after the United States committed millions of dollars to the Philippine armed
forces operation. Philippine forces were deployed to Tay Ninh in 1966 and with
drawn in 1969.
Interesting
enough, this Battalion of engineers would be commanded in 1966 by Lt. Colonel
Fidel Valdez Ramos who would later become the 8th President of the
Republic of the Philippines.
Captain Renato
S. DeVilla, who was a company commander with the unit in 1966 would go on to
become the Chief of Staff of the armed Forces of the Philippines and later, to
become Secretary of Defense.
Lieutenant
Alfredo Filler, with the unit in 1966, would go on to become a Major General in
the Philippine Army before his retirement.
Ref. Sources:
Philippine Daily Inquire (Oct.1,
2000)
Philonrise- The Best of the
Philippines - WWW - Portrait of Fidel Ramos
Los-Indios-Brovos.com – The
Philippine Solidarity Projected History
Inq7.net - Oppositions
Education, Ferdinand Marcos
Compiled by Ronald Titus 2001