LEO Rey Yanson has banned his four siblings -- Roy, Emily, Celina, and Ricardo -- from entering the main office of Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI) in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City and other branches all over Mindanao and Visayas.
"Considering the pending mopping-up moderation and the ongoing general audit of our main office and other terminals, I hereby order all staff and security personnel to stop and bar RSY (Roy), EVY (Emily), RGR (Ricardo) and CYL (Celina) from entering the main office and other branches, terminals especially our Bacolod north and south terminals. Any violation hereof shall be dealt with severe to the fullest extent allowed by law," stated the inter-office memorandum that was issued Wednesday, August 14, and relayed to VTI's employees and security personnel.
With this, Celina and Emily, along with several employees, were not allowed entry Wednesday, August 14, despite them knocking and long waiting outside the main entrance of VTI main office. The same thing happened on Tuesday, August 13.
But Celina and Emily said they keep on trying to report to their works as finance officer and corporate secretary, respectively, despite the memorandum.
They also appealed to Leo Rey to allow the workers -- about more than 300 of them -- to enter the main office so that they could continue their respective jobs.
"No guard entertains us. Definitely, the four of us are not allowed to come in. We are also owners and directors of the company. I am the CFO and Emily is the corporate secretary with about 400 employees here, we were only ignored," Celina said.
Emily said they again reported the situation to Police Station 7 for record purposes to show how many times they were are not allowed entry.
"We will go here every day to assert our ownership and we are decided to go inside. I don't believe that they are conducting clearing operation. The employees should be allowed entry. Those reported bombs are planted. On the first place when we were inside, we did nothing about what they say about those bombs. It's all planted. We won't allow those bombs. We're not violent people," Emily said.
Celina said they are preparing for another case to be filed in Bacolod City pertaining to the ban issued by Leo Rey.
She also said that employees were made to fill up new employment forms, which means that Leo Rey wanted them to reapply in their respective jobs despite the fact that they have been working for the company for several years already while some have been there for 10 to 20 years.
"They were also instructed to report to the north terminal when their jobs are here at the office as mechanics. We really pity the workers," Celina said.
They also questioned why the clearing conducted by Leo Rey took so long, stressing it started Friday last week, August 9.
Meanwhile, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said he remains neutral on the Yanson family feud.
His statement came after he was accused by one of the Yanson siblings that he was interfering on the family squabble.
"I want to make it clear over and over again that in so far as that conflict is concerned, personally and officially, I had always considered that as something that is internal, family and corporate which should be decided by the courts," Leonardia said.
Last week, a video of Emily was posted on social media and she was seen telling a police officer at Ceres main office in Barangay Mansilingan that Councilor Cindy Rojas and her husband were with the other camp.
Emily cited the presence of police officers and Bacolod Traffic Authority Office personnel at the Ceres South Terminal, and she hoped that Leonardia would not get involved in their family dispute since she and her three other siblings were also part of the group who donated the property to the City Government.
In January, the Yanson family donated a total of 8.8-hectare land to the City Government to be used for South Public Terminal, museum, and coliseum of the city.
Last week, hundreds of policemen were deployed at the Ceres South Terminal when tension arose in the terminal.
"My clear instruction to Police Colonel Henry Biñas, director of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO), is to maintain the peace and order in the city," Leonardia said.
He said when the incident happened, he was in Manila for the oath-taking of officers of the League of Cities of the Philippines in Malacañang.
"I was not even aware until I got a call from a local VIP informing me the incident and I also answered him the same, that I don't have an order (the deployment of cops in terminal)," he added.
The mayor said that in the case of Biñas, he did not tell him to go the Ceres South Terminal or elsewhere.
"If he did it, it's either he got an order somewhere or he found it necessary to be there himself, and even in the case of Police Lieutenant Colonel Luisito Acebuche, I've not seen him for a number of days before that (incident)," Leonardia said.
"If there was an order at all, it did not come from me," he added.