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 CHAPTER III

The Philippines

The Philippine nation assisted the Republic of South Vietnam for many years. As early as 1953 a group of Philippine doctors and nurses arrived in Vietnam to provide medical assistance to the hamlets and villages throughout the republic. This project, known as Operation BROTHERHOOD, was mainly financed and sponsored by private organizations within the Philippines. Years later the Philippine government, a member of the United Nations and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, increased Philippine aid to Vietnam out of a sense of obligation to contribute to the South Vietnamese fight against communism. On 21 July 1964 the Congress of the Philippines passed a law that authorized the President to send additional economic and technical assistance to the Republic of Vietnam. The law was implemented through the dispatch to Vietnam of a group of thirty-four physicians, surgeons, nurses, psychologists, and rural development workers from the armed forces. Four such groups in turn served with dedication during the period 1964-1966.

In addition, and as a part of the Free World Assistance Program, sixteen Philippine Army officers arrived in Vietnam on 16 August 1964 to assist in the III Corps advisory effort in psychological warfare and civil affairs. They were to act in co-ordination with the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. Initially the officers were assigned in pairs to the three civil affairs platoons and three psychological warfare companies in the provinces of Binh Duong, Gia Dinh, and Long An, respectively. Of the remaining four, one functioned as the officer in charge, while one each worked with the Psychological Warfare Directorate, the III Corps Psychological Operation Center, and the 1st Psychological Warfare Battalion.

The efforts of the sixteen Philippine officers were directed at a lower governmental level than those of their U.S. allies. Traveling and working with their South Vietnamese counterparts, these officers ensured that the psychological warfare and civil affairs portion of the pacification plan was being carried out. During the time they were in the field, the Philippine officers made an important contribution to the psychological warfare