Lawyer: Saboteurs out to break Vallacar Bus up

By: Francis Allan L. Angelo

THE lawyer of Rey Yanson, who grabbed the helm of Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI) from brother Leo Rey, said something sinister is brewing in the simmering family feud.

In a statement, lawyer Sigfrid Fortun said “malevolent forces are out, possibly allies of the former bus management, to cause the breakup of the biggest bus company in the Visayas now embroiled in an intra-corporate sibling dispute.”

Fortun, legal counsel of the Yanson siblings who control the board of the biggest bus company plying the Visayas-Mindanao route, believes recent incidents involving supporters of former president Leo Yanson “are part of a bigger conspiracy to divide the company.”

“Leo’s own admission which he shared with a reporter of a national newspaper in Manila that he dared his older brother Roy to a toss of a coin to see who gets what of their deceased father’s bus company reveals his plan to break Vallacar up,” Fortun said.

Yesterday, allies of Leo Rey Yanson, including his sister, Ginneth, went to the Ceres North bus terminal during the turnover of duties between the old company security agency and the newly appointed by the new management of Vallacar bus transit.

Due to the orders of Leo, the old security agency made a futile stand. After showing their permits, the new security agency was able to secure the terminal.

Fortun recently filed a temporary restraining order against Leo Rey Yanson at the sala of Regional Trial Court Branch 53 Judge Eduardo Sayson, the very same court where the embattled ex-president filed yet withdrew an earlier TRO application.

Fortun said they have strong evidence to prove that Leo Rey had been at the forefront of efforts to disrupt bus company operations.

The TRO, Fortun said, is to prevent Leo from further harming the company through extra-legal acts.

While Leo remains to be a member of the bus company’s board, several witnesses claim that he, together with former board member and mother Olivia Yanson, ordered company security guards to prevent the new management from entering company premises last July 11.

Olivia Yanson, meanwhile, continues to issue statements and pronouncements to the effect of portraying employees in support of Leo.

Last July 12, a consolidated employees and union statement urged the Yansons to resolve their differences while urging employees not to take sides on the issue.

Last Friday, Fortun presented video evidence showing how union leaders reportedly allied with the former management, tried to stage a fake strike at the Vallacar north bus terminal in Bacolod.

The video, taken by bus conductor Joelito Sumaque, happened last July 14.

Four union leaders of PCUWI-TUCP, together with a group of burly men arrived at the Vallacar North bus terminal at around 3 in the afternoon.

The group then called on bus drivers and conductors and asked them to form a group. Drivers were promised a certain cash reward if they group themselves together and make it appear as if they are going on a strike.

Sumaque says he saw Rey dela Torre, Executive Vice President of the Philippine, Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Workers’ Union (PACIWU) and board member Juvy Diama with several others in the video.

Other labor leaders like board member Raymond Roldan and chapter chairman Franny Santarin were identified by workers-complainants too in their consolidated complaint against the union for unfair labor practices filed before the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) last July 18.