By: Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD City – Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI) president Leo Rey Yanson welcomed the call of his elder brother Roy Yanson for reconciliation but on one condition: they must walk their talk and apologize.
In a press statement, Leo Rey said he welcomes with pride and sympathy Roy’s gesture of reconciliation.
“It is for this reason that I come to you for the greater glory of God and to the betterment of family relationships in our common goal to serve the public,” he said.
“Let us be a family again that our dad and mom will be proud of,” Roy said in a press conference on Aug 19, 2019.
“Let us meet and sit down as one family. Let us set our differences behind us and talk. Let us forgive each other,” Roy added.
Leo Rey said family reconciliation is possible if supported by honesty and action.
“To me, reconciliation without action is temporary. I, for one, would seek an apology as a preamble of true and honest reconciliation,” he said.
Leo Rey also asked his elder brother to encourage their three other siblings – Celina, Emily, and Ricardo Jr. – to appreciate the value of forgiveness and reconciliation.
“We need a lasting peace and unity to sustain the success of our corporate organization,” Leo Rey said.
Leo Rey also asked his siblings to let their respective lawyers do their works towards the common goal of family reconciliation.
“To reconcile means to bring peace and happiness to our people and members of our family… In order to reconcile, you have to possess the art of deep listening,” he said.
“It is not ‘forgive and forget’ as if nothing wrong had ever happened, but ‘forgive and go forward,’ building on the mistakes of the past and the energy generated by reconciliation to create a new future,” Leo Rey said.
Leo Rey said that while reconciliation is possible, the immediate resolution of the corporate dispute over Vallacar Transit Inc. is unrealistic at this point.
“We must emphasize reconciliation, not resolution. It is unrealistic to expect everyone to agree about everything. Reconciliation focuses on the relationship, while resolution focuses on the problem. When we focus on reconciliation, the problem loses significance and often becomes irrelevant. Reconciliation is a decision that you take in your heart,” Leo Rey said.
The feud started on July 7, 2019 when four Yanson siblings—Roy, Ricardo Jr., Emily and Celina—met and unseated Leo Rey Yanson as VTI president.
Leo Rey was subsequently replaced by his eldest brother Roy Yanson but Leo Rey, with the support of his mother, Olivia V. Yanson, and sister Ginnette Y. Dumancas, refused to step down.
On August 19, the stockholders of VTI, including the Yanson matriarch Olivia V. Yanson, elected a new set of board of directors who subsequently re-elected Leo Rey Yanson as the president of the company.
VTI is the largest subsidiary of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies and the force behind Ceres Liner and Sugbo Transit.
Parent company Yanson Group is one of the largest bus conglomerates in Southeast Asia which operates more than 4,000 buses nationwide.
Established in 1968, the 52-year-old conglomerate founded by the late Ricardo Yanson Sr., the Yanson patriarch and his wife Olivia, now has a total of 18,000 employees who provide transport services to 700,000 passengers daily.
