Tangled web in Yansons’ feud

By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

Last week I mentioned the request of the Love Visayas Transport Express, Inc. for a certification from Barotac Viejo that it has a loading and unloading space in the town. The certification is one of the requirements of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board for this new bus company to operate. Rodney Santarin who signed the letter as branch manager of the company, said they have fifteen buses ready to ply the routes in the island of Panay.

I traced the company through its address in Bacolod’s exclusive and even reclusive subdivision in the eyes of most ordinary people of the city. A bus company inside the subdivision was puzzling until we found that three of the Yanson family members live there – Olivia, Ginnette and Leo Rey. Two others, Roy and Ricky who live there are at odds with the three so the possibility that they are members of the Love Visayas Transport Express is unlikely.

Moreover, the company is called “Love” which is the affectionate name of Olivia among family members and close friends. Add to this fact is that Santarin is a former and reinstated employee of Vallacar Transit Corporation that the Yanson 3 manages.

I called for reactions and information about Santarin and as of yesterday there was no denial, so I presume the early information was correct.

Someone, however sent another important information – Santarin is also the incumbent branch manager of VTI in Iloilo. Him being in this position raises more questions about the new bus company and in fact, creates suspicion of the possibility that a plan of grand scale has been hatched. We will explore this likelihood as we delve more into this issue based on information so far gathered.

Other materials that I received cannot be divulged at this time but they point to the possibility that the plan adverse to the interest of Vallacar Transit Corporation had been formulated for some time. The secrets of this plan are coming out by trickles but will eventually be exposed.

Sir Walter Scot, a 19^th century Scot novelist and historian wrote a wise observation. He said, “O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!” What has Buddha to say? “Three things cannot be hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth.” The Bible has many passages about hidden things eventually exposed. And so it seems we have stumbled on a probable secret plan that is starting to see the light of day.

The Santarin letter sent to a town far from the prying eyes of media somehow reached this column. It looks ordinary until one reads it again and it raised the initial question: Why would a new bus company be formed at this time when the transport business is drowning? With 15 buses that means at least a hundred millions of pesos was already invested.

Be that as it may, the links of Santarin, the owners living in a posh subdivision, the company name referring to “Love” Yanson, and now Santarin’s position as the branch manager of VTI Iloilo lead to the conclusion that those who control VTI are also the owners of Love Visayas Transport Express, Inc.

Santarin could not have dared to send the letter to Mayor Niel Tupas saying that the mayor provided the loading and unloading area in Barotac Viejo without powerful backing. Did the mayor really provide the space?

Santarin’s letter is a betrayal of trust of his position. He is the branch manager of a company that will be adversely affected by the Love Visayas Transport Express. There is a clear conflict of interest and he should be fired.

I believe that Santarin could not have written that letter without authority from the VTI management, specifically its incumbent president, Leo Rey Yanson. Santarin could in fact have been instructed to write that letter and to assume the office also as branch manager of Love Visayas.

He surely cannot be the branch manager of both bus companies, unless both companies are owned by the same persons and thus he can ride on two bancas at the same time even if the boats are going in different ways.

And so we find here a tangled web – same branch manager of competing companies, and a high possibility of the owners of one company creating a competing company.

Continued tomorrow.