‘It’s the truth,’ says Alejano on pullout of troops from disputed territories

FORMER Marine captain turned lawmaker Gary Alejano of Magdalo party-list maintained on Sunday that he was telling the truth when he revealed that President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the military to pull out its patrols in the West Philippine Sea because of Manila’s “friendship with Beijing”, saying that a military source relayed the information to him personally.

“What I said is the truth. I am 100 percent sure. The source, who is in authority, relayed [to] me the information. The instruction to them really was to stop patrolling Scarborough Shoal and the West Philippine Sea because it won’t benefit us and we will run the risk of offending China. But the Armed Forces did not agree to it because to do so would violate their mandate under the Constitution,” Alejano said in a radio interview.