VZCZCXRO3585
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH RUEHPB
DE RUEHHM #0972 2410545
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 290545Z AUG 06
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1372
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 0960
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 1440

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000972 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL SNAR SOCI ELAB ECON VM
SUBJECT: HCMC ARCHDIOCESE ENCOUNTERS RESISTANCE AS IT TRIES TO EXPAND 
HIV/AIDS ACTIVITIES 
 
REF: HCMC 757; B) 05 HCMC 1152 
 
¶1. (SBU) On August 28, HCMC CDCRep and PolOff met with Father 
John Dinh Toai, head of the HCMC Catholic Archdiocese "Pastoral 
Care" HIV/AIDS network to review the status of cooperation with 
local authorities.  Toai told us that the church is able to 
conduct its HIV/AIDS activities with the tacit, unofficial 
support of the city government and the People's AIDS Committee 
(PAC).  This includes operation of its community-based center 
for mothers and children with HIV/AIDS (see reftels for more 
information on the archdiocese's HIV/AIDS activities). 
Officials from the PAC, the coordinator for the city's HIV/AIDS 
strategy, often run interference with local officials to 
facilitate church operations.  For example, the mother and 
children's center often faces hostile questioning and threats of 
closure or expulsion of residents from local police and 
administrative officials that the PAC is able to defuse. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Toai complained that the Pastoral Care network has 
failed to receive HCMC government support to register and 
legalize its operations.  For example, in 2005, the Archdiocese 
sought to register the women and children's center as a 
"Charitable Social Organization."  Legal registration would 
facilitate the church's ability to provide services for the 
center's clients -- including enrolling children in school and 
providing medical care.  Legal registration would eliminate 
episodic local harassment and would also facilitate the church's 
ability to relocate the center in the future.  Toai explained 
that, as a legal entity, the center would be able to rent or 
purchase land.  Toai complained that the paperwork continues to 
bounce around between various HCMC provincial-level departments, 
including the PAC. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Toai noted that doctors and other staff affiliated with 
the Pastoral Care network also have been unable to benefit from 
technical support and seminars sponsored by international 
donors, but coordinated and run through the PAC.  The PAC issues 
the invitations and Pastoral Care staff are not invited, Toai 
said.  The PAC then issues training certificates to the 
participants.  As the PAC demands that those involved in 
HIV/AIDS care be properly trained and certified as part of its 
legal registration process, the Pastoral Care network suffers a 
double whammy. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Toai also has discussed with HCMC officials the desire 
of the Archdiocese to register the Pastoral Care network as a 
local NGO, in part, to facilitate the archdiocese receiving 
funding from international sources.  Toai noted that European 
donors such as Caritas Norway told him that they could only 
provide the network with funding were it to be registered 
legally.  However, he could never get a straight answer from 
city officials on how to apply.   Toai acknowledged that CARE 
has been able to provide Pastoral Care limited funding along 
with other local partners, but PACCOM, the GVN's international 
NGO administrator, reportedly prevented Catholic Relief Services 
from providing targeted funding specifically to Pastoral Care. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Another Pastoral Care HIV/AIDS initiative, the 
Archdiocese's plan to create an integrated, community-based 
HIV/AIDS care center in HCMC, also is languishing because of 
bureaucratic difficulties, Toai stated.  The city has told the 
church that they would not even begin to consider the project 
unless the church could first demonstrate that they had the land 
and the funding to carry out the project.  However, on multiple 
occasions, local officials refused to approve the church from 
buying property once they learned that it would be used for an 
HIV/AIDS center.  DOLISA staff offered the church property 
belonging to one of its officials in an isolated location and at 
inflated prices; the church demurred. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment:  HCMC officials seem to be in uncharted 
regulatory waters when it comes to legally registering a local 
NGO -- faith based or not -- to provide social services. 
However, HCMC officials could find ways of enhancing the 
operation of church activities and facilitating its 
participation in HIV/AIDS activities.  The goals of the 
authorities and the church in this area are congruent.  HCMC 
officials appear reluctant to empower a domestic 
non-governmental organization outside of the Communist Party's 
mass mobilization organization, the Fatherland Front.  End 
Comment. 
 
WINNICK