SEC-Bacolod dragged in Yanson clan feud

By: Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – The management of Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI), the country’s largest bus transport company, slammed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Bacolod Extension Office for attending an alleged irregular meeting of “bogus” stockholders of the company on Dec 7, 2019.

In a letter dated December 9, 2019, law firm Madrid Danao & Associates, representing a faction of VTI stockholders, asked SEC-Bacolod officer-in-charge Annabelle Corral-Respall to cease and desist from interference, aiding and abetting the “impostor stockholders, directors and officers of VTI, namely Roy V. Yanson, Ma. Lourdes Celina Y. Lopez, Ricardo V. Yanson Jr. and Emily V. Yanson” who are collectively known as the Yanson 4.

In a press statement sent to Daily Guardian on Dec. 12, 2019, the law firm said it represents VTI and its controlling stockholders, directors and officers led by co-founder and Yanson matriarch Olivia V. Yanson, Leo Rey V. Yanson, Ginnette Y. Dumancas, Charles M. Dumancas, Anita G. Chua, Arvin John V. Villaruel and Daniel Nicolas P. Golez. The officers were elected at the company’s principal office in Bacolod City on Dec 7.

Under the company’s by-laws, the annual stockholders’ meeting should be held every first Saturday of December at its principal office in Bacolod City, the statement said.

The law firm said it received reports that representatives from SEC-Bacolod attended an alleged meeting of VTI illegally called by the Yanson 4 at SEDA Hotel in Bacolod City on the same day (December 7).

“You and your representative’s reported presence and meddling at the bogus meeting that projected to interfere, aid and abet the Yanson 4’s illegal meeting is highly irregular and unlawful,” it said.

The law firm said that SEC-Bacolod has no authority and/or jurisdiction to interfere with the intra-corporate dispute of the two parties and that there is no court order directing them to attend the alleged meeting.

“You and/or your representatives’ actions amount to judicial interference of the RTC-Bacolod and Court of Appeals vis-a-vis the parties’ pending intra-corporate cases,” the legal counsel said.

“Even if you and/or your representatives claim to be a mere witness, your presence nonetheless created a misconception that Y4’s alleged meeting was regular when in truth and in fact it was not.  With the highly publicized suits between the parties, you and/or your representatives should have acted with extreme caution so as not to be used by the Y4 in their propaganda,” the VTI legal counsel said.

“Wittingly or unwittingly, you have allowed yourself to be used for the Y4’s illegal acts and propaganda,” it said.

The VTI management, therefore, urged SEC-Bacolod and its representatives to “immediately cease and desist from interfering, aiding, abetting, favoring and/or granting unwarranted benefits to the impostor Y4”.

“We nonetheless reserve our right to proceed against you and/or your representatives to the fullest extent allowed by law for your unwarranted presence at the Y4’s alleged December 7 meeting, it said.

Pursuant to VTI’s by-laws, the company’s legitimate stockholders led by co-founder and matriarch Olivia V. Yanson held the annual stockholders meeting at the company’s principal office at Ceres compound, Barangay Mansilingan in Bacolod City.

The stockholders elected matriarch Olivia V. Yanson, Leo Rey Yanson, Ginnette Y. Dumancas, Charles M. Dumancas, Arvin John Villaruel, Anita G. Chua and Daniel Nicolas Golez as members of the board of directors.

The elected directors will serve for one year until December 2020, or until their successors have been duly elected and qualified.

The meeting was presided over by incumbent VTI chairman and president Leo Rey Yanson, with Olivia V. Yanson as a corporate secretary.

Following the election of the directors, the board held an organizational meeting and re-appointed Leo Rey Yanson as the president of the company and Olivia V. Yanson as treasurer and corporate secretary.

The stockholders also ratified the acts of the board of directors led by Leo Rey V. Yanson.

VTI is the largest subsidiary of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies and is the company behind Ceres Liner and Sugbo Transit.

It has 15 bases of operations in the cities of Bacolod, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Cebu, Cagayan De Oro, Butuan, Davao, Pagadian, Dipolog, Bohol and Batangas.