Former Councilor Ricardo “Cano” Tan on Saturday, October 23, thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for clearing him from the drug watch list.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año, in a memorandum order dated Aug. 11, 2021, certified that Tan was “removed/delisted from the Inter-Agency Drug Information database under the recommendation, review, evaluation, and management of Inter-Agency Drug Information Database Committee and approved by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte through a memorandum dated July 31, 2021”.
Tan, who received a copy of the certification recently said the certification said it is the “closure to a bad dream.”
“Today marks my complete freedom from all the fake news against me and my family. Today, I stand before you as a vindicated man,” he said at a press conference at his Campuestohan Highland Resort in Talisay City.
Tan and his wife, Nita, survived an ambush in Barangay Alangilan, Bacolod City, in December 2018.
Duterte during a visit to Bacolod City in January 2019 linked Tan to the drug trade.
On Saturday, Tan thanked the president for the objective review of his situation, and Año for issuing the certification.
“This certification is the vindication I have long prayed for. This certification signed by Secretary Año bearing the approval of President Duterte is not just a piece of paper. It is the symbol of freedom from all accusations against me and my family,” he said.
Tan said with the certification, “the President has spoken. Justice has been served and the buck stops here…it is justice in black and white.”
Time and again he has strongly denied any involvement in any form of illegal drug activities, Tan said.
He hopes that the people who spread fake news against him will now stop.
Tan said he and his family have suffered a lot because of those false accusations.
“The road to find justice and vindication was not easy for me and my family,” he pointed out.
He has no illegal business, what his family owns now they worked hard for, Tan said.
Tan, who is running for councilor of Bacolod, said ”in my advocacy, I always say nga si Cano Gwapo indi kawatan (is not a thief)”.
“In my advocacy, I always stand firm against all forms of corruption and illegal activities,” he added.*