Android manifest does not merge with generated manifest.

I'm using android studio to create a simple plugin for Unity to test my hand in creating a simple application where I could just send commands back and forth between unity and the plugin. I've gotten to the point where I could send and receive data back and forth between basic datatypes but when I've tried calling a custom command that uses the camera, I keep getting a runtime exception error. I included to the plugin's manifest file and assumed that runtime permissions are okay since im using **API 4.4.2** and even tried adding the AndroidManifest.xml file manually under Unity's Assets/Plugins/Android/ OR Assets/Plugins/ Directories but the generated manifest after building lack the permission tags that was in the plugin's. On a separate note, I have no idea what the difference between the two folders in android studio is...that is "app" and "testplugin" folder but most of the files I modified are under the "testplugin" and assumed that the manifests get merged together anyway. According to the manual [Unity Manifest][1] it merges the files regardless so am I missing something simple here..? I'm not using any google play services whatsoever, I simply want the most basic way to have Unity generate the merged manifest from the jar file. [1]: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/android-manifest.html