BACOLOD CITY—A former city councilor said he has been cleared by the Philippine National Police (PNP) of suspicions he was involved in the drug trade.
Ricardo Tan, at a press conference on Sunday (May 2), said he was a victim of “fake news, intrigue, lies and deception.”
“It destroyed my life, it destroyed my family,” he said. “It ruined me,” Tan added at the press conference held in Compuestohan Highland Resort in Talisay City, which he owns.
Tan made a public appearance for the first time since he and his wife, Nita, survived an assassination in Bacolod City on Dec. 14, 2018.
He presented a statement signed in August 2020 by Brig. Gen. Rene Pamuspusan, then PNP regional director, clearing Tan of involvement in drugs.
In January 2019, President Rodrigo Duterte fired Bacolod City police chief Francisco Ebreo and four other police officers after they cited reports that linked Tan to the drug trade.
Tan said his wife and son met with the President to explain his side.
“After that meeting, President Dutere himself ordered that all accusations against me should be validated and revalidated. And the different agencies did just that,” he said.
After a lengthy process of validation and revalidation, Tan said the police in Western Visayas cleared him of any “derogatory records”.
Tan thanked the President and concerned government agencies for helping him clear his name.
“In December 2018, my world crumbled. In January 2019, my world was completely shattered. That time, I thought it was already the end of everything,” he said.
Tan said he lived in fear and constant uncertainty for more than one year and a half.
“While I was away searching for truth and justice, I cried a river of tears, day and night,” he said, pointing out that he had never been away from his family for such a long period of time.
TSB