The Philippine Navy and Air Force made their own proposals. The Philippine Navy proposed in order of priority: crews totaling 400 for LST's (landing ships, tank) or 224 officers and men to operate a sixteen LCM (landing craft, mechanized) board group, or 100 officers and men to operate a division of twelve PCF's (coastal patrol craft or Swift craft) in Operation MARKET TIME, or 100 officers and men to operate a division of four PGM's (motor gunboats) in MARKET TIME.[1]
Using U.S. aircraft and equipment, the Philippine Air Force proposed to operate in a support role in South Vietnam. A squadron of twelve aircraft, preferably C-7A's (Caribous) or C-123's (Providers), was considered. On the basis of sixty flying hours per month for aircraft and no base support requirements, the squadron would have required 50 officers and 203 enlisted men.
After considering the proposals, the State Department believed the best force from the standpoint of both South Vietnam and the Philippines would be three Philippine Army engineer battalions of about 2,100 officers and men. The United States would accept the idea of a Philippine security support force if the Republic of the Philippines insisted but did not want the spaces for the security force to come from the engineer battalions.
The 14 November Philippine Senate elections meanwhile would have a bearing on the future status of the Philippine Civic Action Group, Vietnam. The matter of whether or not to retain the group was injected into the campaign by the opposition Liberal party candidates, who termed the group's presence in Vietnam a diversion of needed funds from domestic Philippine requirements. President Marcos sought to remove the issue from the campaign by postponing his request for an appropriation for the Philippine Civic Action Group in the expectation that his Nationalist party would retain control of the Senate.
The outcome of the election was that the Nacionalista party captured six of the eight contested Senate seats. Marcos lost little time in introducing a $9 million appropriation bill for the continued deployment of the Philippine Civic Action Group, but the bill, while easily passing the House, came under fire not only from members of the Liberal party but also from elements of the ruling Nacionalista party. Senate opposition stemmed in part from a small minority critical of U.S. policies in Vietnam and of
- ↑ On 1 April 1967 the PGM of motor gunboat was redesignated the PG or patrol gunboat. On 14 August 1968 the PCF or patrol craft, coastal (fast) was renamed patrol craft, inshore, although it was still called the PCF.
