REGIONAL Trial Court Judge Eduardo Sayson, acting presiding judge of Branch 53, gathered anew the Yanson matriarch Olivia and her children Roy, Ricardo Jr., Leo Rey, Ginette, Emily and Ma. Lourdes Celina for another wave of mediation after the second hearing held Friday, July 19.
The hearing pertains to the request for the issuance of a temporary restraining order and writ of preliminary injunction filed by the camp of the four siblings, and writ of preliminary injunction by the other camp of Olivia and her two other children.
The judge, however, directed them consolidate their petitions for a writ of preliminary injunction.
Lawyer Philip Sigfrid Fortun, legal counsel of Roy, said it is their obligation as lawyers to ensure that if there’s a proposed settlement they will consider it seriously.
“It is part of what we have sworn to ensure that justice is given to both parties,” he said, adding that “it is not just to my client. I know what my situation is and I know theirs’.”
“So there is no problem about settlement,” the lawyer stressed.
Lawyer Norman Golez, legal counsel of Leo Rey, said he cannot dwell too much on the merits of the case.
Leo Rey, in a statement, said “it boggles the mind on how Roy and his ilk can play the victim card well.”
By filing an injunction case similar to that of him, Leo Rey said “they confused the public, except those who know the facts, to make it appear that I was the one disrupting our operations.”
This company has been performing well for the past decade under my watch, he said.
“Roy, in a speech given before the employees during our father’s birthday celebration on July 2 admitted as much,” Leo Rey said.
He added that “five days later, they illegally placed themselves as the new officers and declared to have removed me for loss of trust and confidence. When pressed by the media as to how, they were at loss for words,” he added.
The statement further said that Leo Rey has always made sure to share the company’s blessings to the employees.
For the past twelve years in his entire stay in Ceres, Leo Rey said he gave his entire salary and significant portion of his dividends to the employees to motivate them to work hard for the company.
“Ever since I became president, I would always fight my siblings during board meetings to increase the salary of everyone who worked for us. Do they begrudge me from lifting up the livelihood of our people even if they themselves get so much money already?” he asked.
Unknown to the public, Roy, Celina, Emily and Ricky were already itching to replace me since last year. They only backtracked when they saw that they have no support from the employees, Leo Rey said.
“What their plotting and scheming did not anticipate was the groundswell of support for me and for our mother, Olivia. Roy accused me of forcing employees to defy their action,” he added.
Roy, also in a statement earlier, said they extended their offer of peace to Leo Rey and his supporters to allow the rule of law.
“While these proceedings may take time, his resort to maneuvers outside of the law that sow terror and uncertainty to everyone should stop. Our father’s commitment to the public and our very purpose as a company should be respected by him even in these difficult moments we all are facing,” Roy said.
“We had previously appealed to Leo Rey to desist from forcing employees to defy new management’s actions to the extent of directing them to go on strike or demean us through posters of sympathy for him and his group,” he added.
He (Leo Rey) has even asked union officers to feign a strike by paying-off employees to do nothing, and pretend that a strike is taking place, when there is no reason for doing so, Roy said.
“All these go against the very purpose our late father (Ricardo Sr.) had in organizing a company that is efficient, properly managed under a competent corporate structure and committed to serve the commuting public,” he added.
The statement further said “despite our appeal for sobriety and consistent with his own effort to have the courts resolve legal issues between his faction and ours, he has continued to negate his own purpose at filing cases against us.”
He (Leo Rey), instead, preferred to do extra-legal acts to leverage his position at the risk of going against the very purpose for which our group of companies were organized, Roy claimed.
“Our hand was forced to use the very same courts of law to deter Leo Rey from pursuing his continued lawlessness,” the older Yanson added.
It can be recalled that the petition for a writ of preliminary injunction was filed by Leo Rey Yanson against Roy relative to the Special Board meeting held on July 7 that removed the former from presidency of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies.
Employing about 18,000 workers with about 4,000 bus units, the company is the biggest in the country.