Philippine Civic Action Group, Vietnam, by the Cao Dai sect.
Two formal organizations were created to co-ordinate Philippine activities with U.S. forces and South Vietnamese officials in Tay Ninh. The first of these, the Tay Ninh Friendship Council, consisted of the Tay Ninh province chief, the commanding general of the 196th Infantry Brigade, and the commanding general of the Philippine Civic Action Group, Vietnam. The council convened only a few times and then ceased its formal activities when other and more informal channels of co-ordination were found.
The Tay Ninh Friendship Council did produce, nonetheless, a document outlining the responsibilities for co-ordinating the activities and interests of the members. Titled the "Agreement of Mutual Assistance and Cooperation between PHILCAGV, US 196th Brigade and Tay Ninh Province," this document created a Civic Action Committee, the second formal organization. The province chief of Tay Ninh acted as chairman of the committee, which was composed of a senior representative from the Philippine group; the deputy province chief of administration; a representative from the U.S. Agency for International Development; a representative from the Joint U.S. Public Affairs office; the secretary general for rural reconstruction; the chief of information and of the Chieu Hoi amnesty program; the chief of social welfare; the chief of economic services; the chief of health services; the chief of education services; the U.S. S-5 adviser to the Tay Ninh sector; the S-5 of the U.S. 196th Infantry Brigade; the Vietnamese S-5 of the Tay Ninh Sector; another representative from the Philippine group; and the chief of any district concerned.
The committee hoped to meet at least once a month, but the organization proved too cumbersome and was difficult to convene. Hence, it rarely met and was of little significance in assisting the co-ordination between the Philippine group and Tay Ninh Province officials. In actual practice, the Philippine Civic Action Group resorted to more informal face-to-face means of contact. Co-ordination and co-operation were in turn left to ad hoc arrangements and personal relationships developed between Philippine officers and the Vietnamese officials.
In carrying out various civic action projects, the Philippine group introduced several new pacification techniques to the Republic of Vietnam. The group first explained the Philippine mission in South Vietnam to the local population in leaflets outlining the text of the Philippine Congress resolution which had sent the Philippine Civic Action Group to Vietnam. Philippine
