Finally, justice for Cano Tan

By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

It was a long, dark tunnel and his quest for deliverance took a long time, but finally, the ends of justice was served. This was the theme of Number 1 former Bacolod Councilor Ricardo ”Cano” Tan during a press conference in Campuestohan Highland Resort that he owns. The conference was fully packed with every print, radio and digital media in Bacolod.

There were 70 media practitioners who attended the gathering, an unusual sight considering that the venue was 15 kilometers at the foot of Mt. Mandalagan. But it was a pleasant place and it rained just after Cano Tan closed his statement. A good omen – the first rain of May.

He had a long narrative that took almost an hour but the media people were all ears. The conference lasted longer due to the many questions.

His narrative began with the event in December 2019, when he and his wife were ambushed while going home from Campuestohan. Cano was driving and they had no escort whatsoever believing they had nothing to fear. It was their routine travel, their way of life, he said.

They survived despite over 50 slugs that riddled their vehicle. With presence of mind, Cano drove to the hospital. The ambushers did not follow the over ten kilometers drive to the city. The couple had only glass splinters, nothing more serious. The shock was their real pain.

At the time he was urged to run for mayor of Bacolod; consequently, he had to abort that plan. Did somebody want him out of the game?

As usual, the police had no clue giving rise to suspicions that the ambush was among the dreaded law enforcement agencies’ operations against illegal drugs. That was a convenient excuse that effectively closed the case. As he revealed in the press conference, it seems that illegal drugs were not the cause, although he did not say so directly. The facts spoke for themselves.

City officials commiserate perfunctorily and did not take a serious step to pursue an investigation. The Bacolod police chief had a ready explanation – it was business rivalry and wrote off the case. Nothing was done thereafter, an excellent commentary on the police behavior.

Though he survived the attempt, the threat to his life remained – the perpetrators were still out there, the police practically leaving him on his own. He had to leave Bacolod for his safety, to where we did not know.

His family, especially his wife Nita and son, Ralph Richard popularly known as “Siote” dared to see President Duterte when the President was in Bacolod. That meeting with the President bore fruit. Cano revealed that the President ordered the law enforcement agencies, to “validate, revalidate” the charge that Cano was a drug dealer or drug lord.

We knew from past press conferences that Cano had vehemently denied this charge and he repeated this at last Sunday’s press conference. He mentioned, for instance, that the accusations against him even said that his laboratory was under the gigantic figure of King Kong which was proven false when law enforcement agencies checked the place.

Despite the lack of evidence, the people who wanted Cano out of the picture continued to spread the falsehood and laid the foundation for the ambush that was made to appear it was the operation of the illegal drugs enforcement units. Under that cover, the case was left to hang while Cano and his family agonized daily for their safety and cry for justice.

In last Sunday’s press statement Cano narrated how he and his family suffered, not only because of the ambush but the “lies” that were peddled that he is a drug lord. As we have seen since Rodrigo Duterte became president a drug lord tag is like a death sentence. People so tagged end up dead. No investigation is conducted; the tag itself is considered proof of guilt and the unfortunate had no course before the police or the courts.

Cano went into hiding. A man with a very close family relationship, that “exile” was painful for them. He described his ordeal away from his family and every night he shed “rivers of tears”. He missed his family.

But he never gave up.

Continued tomorrow.