The four Yanson siblings - Roy, Emily, Celina, and Ricky - claimed victory over the latest development in their family's cases.
In a press statement on Sunday, December 3, the siblings stated that their father, Dr. Ricardo B. Yanson, Sr., the founder of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies (YGBC), died intestate or without leaving a will on October 25, 2015.
Subsequently, his compulsory heirs, Dr. Olivia V. Yanson and their six children executed an Extra-Judicial Settlement (EJS) of his estate on Dec. 16, 2015, and amended later on December 20, 2017, to include all existing properties not found in the first EJS in order to partition and distribute RBY's entire estate among themselves taking a cue from the Shareholders' Agreement all of them - both parents, six children, and the latter's spouses - acquiesced into earlier on October 10, 2013, where they all agreed to a seamless transfer ultimately of all shares in the bus companies to be divided equally among the six Yanson siblings.
RBY's estate consisted of several shares in various family corporations, real properties, bank deposits, and vehicles. All real estate properties, bank deposits, and vehicles went to OVY while all the shares in the family corporations, which were to be divided equally among the six children, went to the six siblings in a mutually reciprocal exchange of rights.
In short, OVY relinquished all her shares in the YGBC in favor of her six children wherein the Yanson 4's combined ownership of shares in the YGBC, that of Roy, Emily, Celina, and Ricky, soared to 61.17 percent thereby making them the majority shareholders.
This was reflected in the General Information Sheets (GIS) of the various bus companies after the execution of the EJS in 2015 and the years following their intra-corporate dispute in 2019.
Olivia Yanson then petitioned the court on October 9, 2018, to nullify the extra-judicial partition and distribution and recover her shares in the YGBC. The Y4 vehemently opposed this petition as they claimed that OVY was of sound mind when she freely and voluntarily relinquished her shares neither was she under duress or coerced so to do. The case pended in the court for many years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak which shut down court operations.
In the meantime, due to some management and trust issues and asserting their being majority, the Y4 replaced LRY as president of the YGBC on July 7, 2019.
The delay in the trial of the case was primarily due to the filing of amendments to the complaint and several motions by the lawyers of OVY.
On October 2, 2023, the Regional Trial Court Branch 42 presiding judge Maria Lina P. Gonzaga dismissed OVY's petition noting the latter's and her lawyers' proclivity to trifle with court processes.
The judge noted that OVY and her lawyers filed an amended complaint on October 11, 2018, only to be amended by a second complaint on September 25, 2019, yet on September 25, 2023, subsequently moved to withdraw the second amended complaint (September 25, 2019) and to continue the proceedings under the first amended complaint (October 11, 2018).
Furthermore, OVY's lead counsel withdrew from the case and did not file the compliance required by the court and instead filed for an extension of time to comply therewith. The court rightfully said that the case was delayed by about two years.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” the camp of four Yanson siblings claimed.
"The dismissal of Civil Case No. 18-15199 or OVY's challenge to the legality and validity of the EJS means that she and their faction, which includes LRY and GYD, had failed to invalidate the EJS Deeds until now," their camp further claimed.
The four siblings also claimed that they remain the majority of the Yanson bus corporations and particularly, VTI, with ownership of 61.17% of the latter's shares, adding that the cases filed against them such as qualified theft of company properties and carnapping of company vehicles have “no legal basis.”
The camp of OVY and her two children have yet to issue a statement on the development.*