{"id":247158,"date":"2020-03-05T19:46:30","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T00:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=247158"},"modified":"2020-03-05T19:46:30","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T00:46:30","slug":"chinese-soldiers-presence-in-manila-cause-for-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/03\/05\/chinese-soldiers-presence-in-manila-cause-for-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese soldiers\u2019 presence in Manila cause for \u2018concern\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Presidential Spokesperson Panelo said the Palace is \u201calways alarmed\u201d when there is the latest development that affects the country\u2019s national interest. (File photo<\/a>: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Thursday raised worry over the alleged presence of an estimated 3,000 members of the Chinese People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

This, after Senator Panfilo Lacson revealed on Wednesday that around 2,000 to 3,000 PLA personnel are now in the country on \u201cimmersion missions\u201d and for other unknown purposes.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Panelo said the Palace is \u201calways alarmed\u201d when there is the latest development that affects the country\u2019s national interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we can say is we in the government is always concerned in any issue affecting the national interest and national security,\u201d he told Palace reporters in a press conference.<\/p>\n

The PLA is China\u2019s armed forces and considered the world\u2019s largest military force.<\/p>\n

The PLA, which has over 2 million active personnel, consists of five service branches, namely the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Rocket Force, and Strategic Support Force.<\/p>\n

Validation of \u2018raw\u2019 intel report<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panelo said that while the Palace expressed a cause for concern, it viewed Lacson\u2019s claim as a \u201craw intelligence report.\u201d<\/p>\n

He made the remark after Lacson admitted that the supposed presence of some members of the Chinese army in the country has yet to be validated.<\/p>\n

Panelo said President Rodrigo Duterte would only take appropriate action if the revelation that is based on \u201cspeculation and unverified reports\u201d would be backed by substantial evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that is validated, then we will make our appropriate response. Until such time, it\u2019s just speculation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Panelo expressed confidence that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has already looked into the unverified information that 3,000 PLA personnel are now in the country.<\/p>\n

He said Duterte\u2019s decision would depend on the report of the AFP.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen their job is done, they report to the President, and the President makes a decision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Makati police nabbed two Chinese murder suspects who were caught with identification cards purportedly from the PLA.<\/p>\n

Authorities, however, found that the suspects were carrying fake Chinese military identification cards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Thursday raised worry over the alleged presence of an estimated 3,000 members of the Chinese People\u2019s Liberation …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":245298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247159,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247158\/revisions\/247159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}