Yanson matriarch asks ‘Yanson 4’ to yield; they slam CIDG arrest try
THE matriarch of the feuding Yanson family on Wednesday asked her children to surrender to authorities after local police failed to serve the warrant of arrest issued by the municipal trial court of Bacolod City against the so-called Yanson Four, or the siblings who want to take over management of the country's biggest bus company.
Police failed to serve the warrant of arrest on the Yanson 4,—Emily V. Yanson, Roy V. Yanson, Ricardo V. Yanson Jr., Maria Lourdes Celina V. Yanson Lopez—who are reportedly now outside the country.
Earlier, however, lawyers for the Yanson 4 scored the Pnp-criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Bacolod City for unlawfully enforcing an “unissued” warrant of arrest last Sunday.
Atty. Sigfrid Fortun, counsel for Roy, Emily, Ricardo Yanson and Ma. Lourdes Celina Lopez, also known as Y4, said Municipal Trial Court Judge Abraham Bayona only authorized the issuance and release of a warrant against his clients on Monday, June 1. Hence, the CIDG operatives’ attempt to arrest his clients last Sunday was “patently illegal”, he said.
“By attempting to serve an ‘unofficial’ warrant on Sunday, CIDG operatives were working outside the law with the obvious intent of harassing and embarassing my clients and denying them the chance to seek legal redress or even post bail since courts are closed,” Fortun stressed.
He said there are serious questions as to how and from whom the CIDG obtained a copy of the warrant they served on Sunday when it was only issued the following day, June 1. “This merits a serious investigation. It’s alarming that certain parties are trying to misuse the court system through trumpedup charges and misrepresentation in the release and implementation of unofficial arrest orders,” he said.
Y4, who claims ownership of majority shares in Vallacar Transit, Inc., are facing grave coercion charges for the alleged attempt last year to wrest management control of the bus company from their youngest sibling Leo Rey. The group’s claim is based on the company’s General Information
Sheet filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Fortun said the arrest warrant Cidg-bacolod tried to enforce against his clients “was put on hold last March” due to a timely motion to stop its implementation, which remains unresolved. On Friday, May 29, 2020, at the hearing of the Y4’s Motion to Suspend Proceedings and Hold In Abeyance Issuance of Warrant, he said Judge Bayona never mentioned having issued a warrant of arrest againt the Y4, he said.
Lawyers for the Y4 have been closely monitoring and were in constant communication with Judge Bayona’s office, but only obtained a copy of the Order releasing the Warrant of Arrest on Monday, June 1, 2020, when it was officially released.
‘Set aside pride’
OLIVIA YANSON, in a statement on Wednesday, has asked her children “to set aside their pride, be humbled and admit to their mistakes.”
The Yanson matriarch added: “Look back at the good things we had as a family. Think of the sacrifices I and your father did to build this company in order that all of you can live abundantly. Amid the pandemic afflicting our country, this is the right time to reach out and talk about our differences. Do not use other people, social media or newspapers for press releases. Come to me personally because no one can resolve this except us. Let us talk as a family. I am willing to listen. I am and will always be your mother.”
Police Lt. Col. Anthony C. Gantang, officer in charge of Cidg-negros Occidental, said in a report to the court that the accused were not in their homes, as some of them reportedly went abroad, when the police served the warrant of arrest on May 31 and June 1.
“Thus the warrant of arrest was not implemented and [was] not served,” Gantang said in the report.
“In view of the foregoing, it is respectfully recommended that further verification be made with the Bureau of Immigration to confirm if the above-named accused are abroad. Subject warrant of arrest remains in this office until its full implementation.”