Roy Yanson (left) and Leo Rey Yanson. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
BACOLOD CITY – They may have left their offices. But the four Yanson siblings—Roy, Emily, Celina and Ricardo Jr. (Yanson 4)—have not given up the fight to manage the biggest bus company in the country.
“They have occupied some of our offices and terminals but command and management of the company still rest on us, the majority board members and the real owners of VTI,” said Emily Yanson, corporate secretary of Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI), in a press statement.
Leo Rey Yanson and his mother, Olivia, regained control of the VTI headquarters in Barangay Mansilingan with the help of the police last Friday.
The Yanson 4 had ousted Leo Rey as president of their firm and replaced him with Roy. However, Leo Rey said his ouster was illegal and the siblings are now locked in an intra-corporate legal battle.
Leo Rey’s lawyer Norman Golez said official receipts and certificates of registration of about 3,000 buses belonging to the Yanson Group of Bus Companies and 800 land titles were stolen from the headquarters in Barangay Mansilingan.
Files, laptops and even personal belongings of employees were also allegedly missing from the legal and operations offices of the headquarters that were found in disarray when the camp of Leo Rey entered the headquarters Friday.
Asked if cases would be filed, Golez said, “As much as we want a peaceful solution to all this, some sort of justice needs to be done. How can you have peace without justice?”
Emily said Leo Rey is hell-bent on selling the company to the highest bidder which explains the use of brute force to occupy all terminals and even corporate headquarters in Mansilingan compound in Bacolod City.
“The camp of Leo Rey wants the corporate documents so they can sell the company,” said Emily, who denied accusations that the Yanson 4 ransacked their corporate offices which led to the loss of important corporate documents.
“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 added.
Emily believed her youngest brother wanted nothing more than to sell the company of her father.
“While we want nothing more than preserving this company, Leo Rey is subverting a company which he co-owns as a director for his interests,” Emily said.
Emily said she and Celina and Ricardo Jr. decided to leave the company headquarter last Friday after the police siege “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.”
Celina Yanson-Lopez, chief financial officer of the firm, said the Yanson 4 remained to be 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 that we were exhausted already and we wanted to go back to our respective homes,” Lopez 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,” she added. /lzb