Yanson sis accuses brod of planning to sell bus firm

TENSION gripped Ceres bus terminals last week as an offshoot of the Yanson family feud over control of their bus company. (Dolly Yasa)

By: Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – Emily Yanson, corporate secretary of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies (YGBC) claimed on Aug 12, 2019 claim that their youngest brother Leo Rey Yanson is hell-bent on selling Vallacar Bus Transit Inc. (VTI) to the highest bidder.

A subsidiary of YGBC, VTI is the operator of the Ceres Bus Liner. The firm is now beset by a protracted feud between Leo Rey, his mother OIivia, and sister Ginette Dumancas on one side and Roy, Emily, Celina Lopez, and Ricardo Jr. on the other side.

Leo Rey regained control last week of the Ceres South Terminal and the VTI head office that was earlier taken over by Roy’s group.

In a statement emailed to Daily Guardian, Emily said Leo Rey wanted to sell the company which “explains the use of brute force to occupy all terminals and even corporate headquarters in Mansilingan compound in Bacolod City.”

Emily said the camp of LRY wanted nothing more than to secure for themselves corporate documents which they would use in selling their father’s company.

Emily also issued the statement in reaction to Leo Rey’s accusations that his four siblings ransacked VTI’s corporate offices which led to the disappearance of important corporate documents.

In a press conference over the weekend, Leo Rey’s lawyer Norman Golez claimed that around 3,000 official receipts and certificates of registration (ORs/CRs) for VTI bus units, and 800 land titles are unaccounted for.

Emily vehemently denied Leo Rey’s accusations.

“Why would we ransack our own offices and steal those documents which Leo Rey claims to be missing? We were occupying the offices for weeks now, and during this whole time, Leo Rey was even there, freely checking and spending his time leisurely as our director?” she also said.

“While we want nothing more than to preserve this company, Leo Rey is subverting a company which he co-owns as a director for his own personal interests.”

Emily said that she and her two other siblings decided to leave the VTI compound to protect the lives of their employees after receiving reports that “certain quarters were planning to inflict them physical harm and pin the violence on them or innocent employees inside the compound. “

“Yes, we left our corporate offices but it does not mean that we have given up the fight to continue the legacy of our father. They claimed victory, but for what? They may have occupied some of our offices and terminals but command and management of the company still rests on us, majority board members and the real owners of VTI,” Emily Yanson added.

YGBC chief finance officer Celina Yanson-Lopez said that management control is not determined by physical invasion of one’s offices, but by corporate shares of stock.

“We remain the majority owners of the company. We have fifty five percent of this company. The only reason why we left our offices last Friday is the fact that we were exhausted already and we want to go back to our respective homes,” Celina said.

“But, don’t underestimate our will and determination to see to it that this legacy which our father had left us is protected and in able hands. We are still holding the fort.”

In a separate statement issued on Aug 12, Roy Yanson’s group condemned the PNP for aiding their brother Leo Rey.

“We strongly condemn the recent illegal actions of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Provincial Regional Office Six (PRO)-6, Regional Security Unit, and PNP-CIDU 6 for using brute force against civilians inside our CERES South bus terminal and our Mansilingan corporate compound both in Bacolod City.”