By ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
FIRST of all, allow me to use the idiom “as happy as Larry” for this particular column. Such means “with so much joy”.
It refers to the current feeling state of the four Yanson siblings – Roy, Ricky, Celina, and Emily or the Y4 in Bacolod City.
This, as they recently tasted a “sweet surprise” billed as their “big victory” amid a heightened and sensitive family feud.
The Y4 aced the nearly four-year-old intra-corporate legal dispute against their mom, Olivia V. Yanson (OVY) and two other siblings – Ginnette and Leo Rey – also referred to as the Y2.
Call it “bittersweet” yet “godsend” for the Y4 as it is expected to pave a way in exonerating them from the criminal charges of qualified theft and carnapping.
With the decision penned by Bacolod Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 42 Judge Maria Lina Gonzaga dated October 2, 2023, but was only released to the media exactly two months after, the embattled Y4 can somehow “heave a sigh of relief”.
‘AS IT SHOULD BE’
In her unexpected decision, Judge Gonzaga simply ruled that “the complaint is, as it should be” ordered dismissed sans prejudice.
The judge referred to OVY’s petition (filed four years ago) to invalidate the family’s extra-judicial settlement (EJS) deeds basically executed and legally subscribed on December 16, 2015.
Why?
Just a rewind: The Yanson’s patriarch, Ricardo B. Yanson, Sr. (RBY), founder of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies (YGBC), died intestate or without a will on October 25, 2015.
Thus, in a legal way, all the compulsory heirs of RBY – OVY and their six children – executed an EJS of his estate on December 16, 2015.
Stipulated in this EJS was that all the shares in YGBC were to be divided equally among their six children.
Then this EJS, on December 20, 2017, was also amended that already included all the existing properties not found in the first partition and will distribute RBY’s entire estate among themselves, taking cue from the Shareholders’ Agreement that all of them – both parents, six children and the latter’s spouses – acquiesced into earlier on October 10, 2013 where they all agreed to a seamless transfer ultimately of all shares in bus companies to be divided equally among the six Yanson siblings.
Late realization
Later, however, OVY realized that with the existing EJS, the Y4 will be “powerful” over the Y2.
The combined shares of Y4 via the basic “hating kapatid” scheme reached 61.17 % of the YGBC’s total shares, making them the majority in their family-owned business conglomerate.
The Y2, therefore, is only the minority.
Thus, on October 9, 2018, OVY asked the court to nullify the extra-judicial partition and distribution, and to recover her shares in the YGBC.
The Y4 legally opposed their mom’s fervent wish.
Their Manila-based counsels legally contented that OVY was of “sound mind” when she freely relinquished her shares and neither was she under duress nor coerced to do so.
For the public, such a legal battle seemed to be intriguing yet so interesting. Negrosanons were on standby for more developments.
Alas, the case was temporarily shelved when the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic “slapped” the world early of 2020. Court operations in the Philippines, including in Bacolod City, were shutdown.
Siblings’ war
What a coincidence, however, that amid pandemic, various management and trust issues also “shook” YGBC.
The Y2 reportedly took the chance to assert its “power”, replacing Y4 in the YGBC via the installation of Leo Rey as president of the company on July 19, 2019.
That was the start of the (ongoing) infamous Yanson siblings’ war.
But to the cut the long story short, the court, lately, was left with no choice but to act on OVY’s pending petition against their family’s EJS deeds docketed as Civil Case No. 18-15199.
Lo and behold, OVY’s lead counsel withdrew from the case and did not file compliance required by the court.
Though OVY’s camp also requested for another extension of time to comply, the court stressed that the case was already delayed by about two years excluding the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, OVY’s petition to invalidate the EJS deeds was junked.
As a result, the Y4 remains as the YGBC’s main shareholder still.
Question: Can OVY and Y2 elevate the case to the Court Appeals and to the Supreme Court later?
The answer: Yes!
But as of press deadline, they remain mum.
‘Beyond quantification’
In a nutshell, with the latest court decision, it is but natural that the Y4’s “feeling of joy” is “beyond quantification”.
“As happy as Larry” is the appropriate idiomatic expression that could best describe their feeling right now.
However, in essence re: their ongoing family feud, people who know them well really pray for a “beautiful climax”.
Bacolodnons and Negrosanons are “hoping for the best”, especially for a win-win solution that may envelope the Yanson family soonest./PN
