Causes of the Yanson family feud

By: Modesto P. Sa-onoy

I HAVE refrained for some time from commenting on the feud among the heirs of Ricardo Yanson because of the murky and conflicting claims from the parties, the mother and her siblings. The stakes are too high over properties worth billions and more billions in properties other than the transportation company. Was this all about the money that the family had to break up or as someone told me a matter of sibling rivalry and parental favoritism? Or perhaps a bad combination of all three?

The show of force by the PNP brought the family conflict into the public domain as the powers of the state was used in a private conflict without a clear imminent danger. The suspension of the transport operation, albeit temporarily poses an ominous threat to public welfare.

From the many items in the propaganda war and tidbits of information from friends and documents, I tried to put the pieces together in efforts to look for a cause. The information on hand reveal a clear cause of this conflict that has worsened because people want to get into the act for personal and financial reasons.

I did not solicit or receive any information from either of the conflicting parties. In fact, I did not attend several press conferences that came one after another. But there are other sources of information that a researcher or investigative journalist can find. The information used here were checked for credibility.

Anybody can rebut, deny or refute the matters I will cite. As usual, I welcome controverting information so that we can get a better picture of how this conflict within a family erupted into a public affair. I believe that both parties would rather not come out into the public domain, to use the usual description, of washing dirty linens in public. But there it is now and the seeds in this Tele-Ceres is growing as the directors behind the propaganda fight orchestrate to the delight of public hooked on tragi-comedy. These propaganda efforts do not serve the public good because they muddle rather than clarify.

Nothing is uncaused except the First Cause. Nothing happens in isolation of other incidents. Everything that happens is interconnected, the reason that history researchers and detectives consider every bit of information, little as they might be or isolated, as something that can be a thread in the warp and woof of a tapestry to give us a clear picture why things happened as they did. Only when we thresh out the chaff from the grain will we able to make a credible conclusion.

I am paraphrasing the words of Mark Anthony in his funeral oration on the murder of Julius Caesar to apply to the present case: You loved each other once, not without cause. What cause withholds you then not to love each other again? O, judgment, thou hast been fed to brutish beasts and men have lost their reason!”

In the earlier days of this feud, both camps expressed love for each other but now they are throwing personal attacks and attributing what one camp considers a lie and which the other immediately disowns or disputes. This shows that the differences are deeper than the battle for control of the transportation company or about money. There are many theories but what has come out into the public square are results rather than the cause. How could love and wise judgment been fed to brutish beasts?

The incident that caused this rift was mentioned earlier but the public squabbles and court cases have overshadowed the tipping point that the public missed it.

The first time the conflict blew wide open was the case filed by the mother, Olivia Yanson, against her four children demanding that they return her shares of stocks in the Vallacar Transit, Inc. The immediate villains were the children – Roy, Emily, Celina and Ricardo, Jr. – because they refused, prompting the mother to go to court. Naturally, the mother received public sympathy. I will not discuss the merits or demerits of that case since it is already in the court and I respect the sub judice rule.

The news hardly reported is why she was taking her share back. What is the story behind her puzzling change of mind?

We’ll trace the causal story on Tuesday next week.