Contagion of the Yanson feud-5

By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

Yesterday I mentioned the name of Mrs. Nelly Duckett, president of the Sta. Clara Executive Village Residents Association. Her action in taking the side of Olivia Yanson in the attempted eviction of Nicolas Causing has placed her and the association in a precarious situation. To be fair, she or any of the officers of the association involved in the case, can give their side, a justification of their actuations adverse to the interest of one of their members.

I am certain the officers of the association are prominent men and women and they would loathe to lose their word of honor in a quarrel not of their own making. They too were just bitten by the bitterness of the matriarch of the Yanson family. Olivia Yanson may be right but her methods in this case depart from the civilized rules of resolving disputes, more so because it was directed against her own flesh and blood.

Certainly Mrs. Duckett and the officers of the association were aware that Nico Causing had the right to peaceful occupancy of the apartment primarily because the family could not have occupied the place for a long time without a valid contract and they had not been disturbed.

The association collected dues from them, a tacit admission that their stay is legal and deserves services in return. Don’t they merit security from the subdivision because they violated no law? Why were armed enforcers of Olivia allowed inside? Do the subdivision rules allow this and if so, under what circumstances? Had some trigger happy security guard wanted to lick the boots of his superiors taken hostile action, there would have bloodshed. But thank God, the security guards kept their cool.

The Causings also deserved protection from people who had not presented a court order to vacate, even if that notice was made by one who alleges to be the apartment owner. The fact that Nico Causing refused to vacate shows he believed he had a right to be there.

Ceneco and Baciwa also violated the right of Nico since he was diligently paying his fees to the service providers but was denied the right, privilege and basic decency to proper notice, justification for the severance notices and the right to reply. These two public utilities are monopolies created by law and they should be the first to comply with the law.

We leave this matter to the lawyers to sue Ceneco and Baciwa for violating their own charters and the rights of their concessionaires. That they brought along armed men and the association permitted this show of armed force made the actions of the service providers more detestable and that of the association highly lamentable.

Why did they bring along a police escort if they acted in accordance with law? This is intimidation and they knew there was no court order. Who ordered them to escort? Was there a complaint necessitating action by the police?

I am not aware of the rules and regulations in the subdivision aside from those imposed by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board but by taking sides in this feud Mrs. Duckett placed the subdivision authorities in a situation that could drag them into the legal dispute.

I have credible information that Mrs. Duckett and the association officers assured Emily Yanson that they will be neutral in this dispute, indeed the legality of the Causing occupancy is not a matter for the subdivision to determine unless the occupants violated the rules of the subdivision. The subdivision had not presented any record showing the Causings violated subdivision rules necessitating eviction.

The association officers did right when they said that as long as the dues are paid they would not take sides in the issue which are clearly questions of ownership and occupancy of the apartments. So what made them change their minds and get mixed up in the dispute?

Information also says that the association agreed, and rightly so again, that without a court order declaring the occupancy of the Causings illegal, it will not intervene. So again, what changed their minds?

Another information confirmed that the association allowed the unhindered deployment and free access of the AGNSA security guards that was prominent in the forcible takeover of VTI.

We’ll continue tomorrow.