THE boardroom squabble among the Yanson siblings has put some members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in trouble.
In a statement, Roy Yanson said they were preparing charges against those who took part in the arrest of their security guards.
"I strongly condemn elements of the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (Swat) of the Philippine National Police Provincial Office Region 7 for taking part in intimidating, harassing and making illegal arrests against legitimate security personnel of our company," Roy said.
"I urge PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde to call for an independent probe on why state security forces got involved in the internal political dynamics of our company and recommend appropriate administrative sanctions against some uniformed personnel who took part in this travesty of justice," Roy further said.
He narrated that at about 3 p.m. on Friday, July 26, at least 20 Swat and other uniformed personnel of the Dumaguete PNP arrived at the Vallacar Transit bus terminal in Bagacay, Dumaguete City.
Roy narrated that a certain Deputy Rolly Lauron led the PNP personnel as they entered the terminal premises after reportedly receiving reports that several individuals had illegally entered the facility.
"Eventually, they changed tune and said that they were inspecting members of our newly designated security agency, AY76, for reported violations of the security guard code and began arresting five of our blue guards without the appropriate arrest warrants. With the assistance of our recently retired security agency AGNSA, they managed to extricate five more blue guards who were sleeping inside the company’s resting quarters," Roy added.
He further revealed that PNP personnel then surrounded the gate. At 11 p.m. Friday, more PNP personnel arrived, this time led by a certain Lt. Jose Edrohil Cimafranca.
The remaining members of the security personnel were immediately placed under arrest without justification, Roy said.
“All our security personnel were hauled to the PNP provincial headquarters and charged with trespassing. At the inquest proceedings, all those arrested were found innocent of these charges and were set free,” Roy said.
Roy and three other siblings are trying to take over their family-owned company after ousting their brother Leo Rey. The latter, however, has refused to step down.
Leo Rey, for his part, defended the police personnel and said that Roy and Ricky with their security illegally entered the Bagacay property owned by their mother Olivia Yanson.
"Having committed multiple criminal acts including grave coercion, physically assaulting the people in the area, they were thus arrested the next day by members of the Philippine National Police. In the late morning of July 26, a few hours before the hearing of the TRO, Celina, Emily and their cohorts staged another commotion at Ceres Bata North Terminal by disrupting the normal operations of the company. Their mother, Olivia, publicly condemned and denounced their unlawful acts and stayed in the north terminal to preempt whatever plans his four children was planning of," Leo Rey said.
He also insisted that "when Roy Yanson and his siblings Celina, Emily and Ricky illegally placed themselves as the management team of Vallacar Transit, they were able to take over Mansilingan only. For two weeks, the 15 branches complied with the directives of their recognized legal president Leo Rey Yanson. For two weeks, all operations were running smoothly. Growing desperate, it was only when they started attacking and wrestling physical control of the branches when ‘temporary disruptions’ took place. It was Roy Yanson and his companions’ illegal actions that these things happened and not because of me who was simply busy running the branches for these past weeks," Leo Rey added.
He further said that the armed men who went inside the Bagacay compound are police officers.
"They were all in uniform and they were there simply to arrest the criminals who forced their way inside another person’s property. This is not a situation where might is right, but simply the rule of law in actions,” he added.