Contagion of the Yanson feud

By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

The conflict within the family of Ricardo B. Yanson is a private matter that has spread out into the public arena because of the nature of the feud and the “novelty” of the dynamics of the conflict. Public interest is being affected because it involves the economic life of the commuters. Hundreds of lives have been unduly jeopardized.

However, though the issues revolved around the inheritance of huge sums of money, the theme makes for a good novel about human nature. The new field of conflict outside the transportation business adds to the belief that Olivia Yanson’s anger is so intense that it boggles the mind how an aging mother could inflict so much pain on her children. Unwittingly that hatred had become a contagion that infected other people. The odium of the mother must be so deep that only the complete annihilation of the other will put an end to this sad story.

Can the spirit of Ricardo B. Yanson be at peace? He devoted so much of his life and left a legacy he believed would keep the family united and in harmony and which he could be proud of. Now it is in tatters and the family conflict drew others into the fray.

If the enmity had remained within the family we can hope that somehow, some time, the family would reconcile and, as Shakespeare wrote, “all’s well that ends well.”

However, in an earlier column I wrote about the incident in a first-class subdivision in Bacolod where a family renting a room in the Yanson apartment was forced to vacate. I thought then that this was a matter of the lease, between the lessor and the lessee and should have ended there. Of course, the circumstances of the exclusion of the lessee was rather unpleasant, to say the least. These thing happens all the time and the irritants were resolved peacefully.

But the virus of anger and “no quarters given” position of Olivia Yanson dominated what could have been a simple matter of rental and occupancy. And so, no amount of legal right or humane consideration was extended by people who claim they represented her as the true owner of the apartment. Proof that the tenants have an existing contract was brusquely shunted aside.

Using methods that can only be described as bullying, the people claiming to represent Olivia Yanson brought in the electric and water service providers to cut their services and rendered the apartment unliveable.

The virus of anger spread some more. The matter could have been resolved by the two parties but news of the incident spread in the subdivision and then into the barangay and became a subject of rumours and speculations. A private matter became a public dispute considering the persons involved, the legal issues, the use of bully tactics, the participation of the subdivision’s association, use of armed guards, and its link to the persistent Yanson family feud.

Let us retrace the series of incidents that led to this new field of family warfare and how the innocents were drawn into the hostility, albeit the battle was waged by proxies. We have now the “official” facts because the matter had already been brought to the public square.

More of interest is that the case has developed into a good story because people not directly related to the family are affected and thus widened the area of public curiosity.

A certain Marilyn Lopez filed a complaint before Barangay Mandalagan chairman Arturo “Baby” Parreño in a case for ejectment against CJ Nicolas A. Causing. I presume this was for mediation as required by law. Acting on this complaint, Parreño issued a summons on Causing on February 10, 2020.

I’m not aware whether this was resolved but probably not because Covid 19 intervened and all public businesses grounded to a halt.

Who is Marilyn Lopez? From the information on hand, she is not the owner of the apartment in question. To be a party with the right to complain she should be the owner or something.

Perhaps our readers will share with us information about her and her role in this latest development so that we can place in perspective the extent of the Yanson feud contagion.

We continue tomorrow.