The 1St. Philippine Civic Action Group

“Philcagv”

Tay Ninh 1966-1969

 

 

         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