By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD City – A Regional Trial Court here suspended the criminal proceedings and also held in abeyance the issuance of a warrant of arrest against Ricardo Yanson Jr., one of the Yanson 4 or Y4 siblings that also include Roy, Emily, and Celina Yanson-Lopez.
To note, Ricardo Jr., filed a petition for certiorari assailing the orders of the Bacolod Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) Branch 7 finding probable cause and issuing an arrest warrant against him, according to Y4 legal counsel Carlo Joaquín Narvasa.
Ricardo Jr. claimed that the MTC completely disregarded the fact that a prejudicial question exists on who the rightful majority shareholders and managers of Vallacar Transit, Inc. (VTI) are.
In granting the Petition for Certiorari, RTC Branch 45 in Bacolod City, in its order dated March 1, 2021, confirmed that a prejudicial question indeed exists as there is pending issue in a prior case before RTC Branch 53 which must first be resolved before the criminal case against him may proceed, Narvasa said in a press statement.
The resolution of that issue would be determinative of the guilt or innocence of the accused in the criminal case.
The RTC decision further said that the existence of a prejudicial question necessitates the suspension of the criminal proceedings, and any issuance of warrants of arrest would be premature, hence, void.
The reason for the rule, the court clarified, is to avoid conflicting decisions between two courts.
It ruled that RTC Branch 53, which has jurisdiction over the intra-corporate case involving control of Vallacar Transit Inc., must first resolve the validity of the ouster of Leo Rey Yanson before any criminal case can proceed against Ricardo Jr.
“Then, too, the propriety of the authority of the party who caused the filing of the criminal case against Ricardo Jr. is linked to the resolution of the intra-corporate case. If Branch 53 finds the Y4’s action in removing Leo Rey Yanson justified, then the criminal suits filed against them by persons who took authority to do so from Leo Rey will also be void.”
Thus, RTC Branch 45 annulled and set aside the orders of the MTC Branch 7 and ordered that the proceedings in the criminal case against the Y4 be held in abeyance pending the resolution of the prejudicial question issue before RTC Branch 53 in the intra-corporate case over the control of VTI.
