THE four Yanson siblings have cried foul over the supposed service of arrest warrant by members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Bacolod City over the weekend, calling it a harassment.
In a statement, the siblings' legal counsel said the failed service of arrest warrant for grave coercion case is meant to harass them "to ensure they had no recourse for posting bail as courts are closed and immediate release orders are unavailing."
Judge Abraham Bayona of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch 7 in Bacolod City issued the arrest warrant against siblings Roy, Ricardo, Emily, and Ma. Lourdes Celina Yanson Lopez.
The Yanson Group of Bus Companies (YGBC) owns the big bus companies in the country whose subsidiaries include the Rural Transit Mindanao Inc. (RTMI) and Bachelor Express Inc. operating in Cagayan de Oro City and the rest of Mindanao.
"At the hearing on the Y4's Motion to suspend the proceedings and hold in abeyance the issuance of warrant last Friday, May 29, not even the judge mentioned about the implementation of any warrant as it was put on hold last March and not implemented considering that said motion was timely filed by the lawyers of the Y4 and had yet to be resolved with finality," the statement said.
"The judge also did not inform the defense counsel at the hearing last Friday of any warrant of arrest that it may have previously issued or will cause to implement over the weekend. As of date, neither the accused nor their lawyers have received any notice from the court that a warrant of arrest had already been issued," it added.
The Y4's camp expressed their concern that certain individuals may have tried to "misuse" the court system through the misrepresentation of the warrant's "unofficial" release and implementation, even as they said that the Y4 remain entitled to remedies available to them under the law.
Lawyers of the Y4 maintain their innocence on the charges and explained that the issuance of arrest warrant, if any is forthcoming, does not at all detract from the presumption of innocence they enjoy as an accused in any criminal case. It is also a bailable offense.
They also believed that the charges are trumped-up.
The Y4 said they would wait for more "dirty tactics" being employed on them as the legal battle over the management of the company continues.