(Eagle News) — The Catanduanes policeman who alleged the city’s chief of police and police director had asked him to deliver an “accomplishment of 5-10 deaths of drug personalities” has recanted his statement.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, chair of the committee on public order and dangerous drugs, made the disclosure about P01 Vincent Tacorda’s recantation during his committee’s hearing on the deaths of Kian Loyd delos Santos, Carl Arnaiz and another alleged to be Reynaldo de Guzman on Monday.
“I have done some serious soul searching and I have to come to realize that I love my organization.I continue to hold it and its ranks in the highest respect despite some sad experiences I went through, which changed my heart,” Tacorda said, based on a letter read out loud by Lacson.
Lacson said his committee has also sent an invitation for Tacorda to appear, but he did not show up.
According to Philippine National Police Chief Director Ronald dela Rosa, Tacorda, who resigned from the police force in April after his supposed expose, also took back his resignation.
In an affidavit in April, Tacorda–who Dela Rosa said was a suspect in the death of a journalist who wrote about a raid in a Catanduanes shabu laboratory—alleged the then-local police chief in Catanduanes and police director asked him to deliver “an accomplishment of 5-10 deaths of drug personalities.”
Tacorda claimed this was because the local government unit was at that time lagging behind others in the war on drugs.
According to Tacorda, he was given a budget for food and accommodation for his assignment, where he was designated as the “shooter.”
He claimed he was also given a folder that said “pusher ako, huwag tularan…Bicol vigilante.”
In his affidavit, Tacorda also recounted an instance when he pulled the trigger to hit a target, but the gun “jammed,” prompting him to “thr(ow) the folder” at that individual.
He said he then “rushed back to the waiting motorcycle and left the scene.”
“I was then wearing a helmet and a jacket so that nobody can recognize me,” Tacorda had said.