What’s the Love Express Transport? – 2

By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

I cited yesterday Rodney Santarin, branch manager of Love Visayas Transport Express, who wrote Barotac Viejo Mayor Niel Tupas (not Barotac Nuevo as indicated in the first part of this series published on July 30, 2020) a letter asking that the mayor certify that a parking space was “provided” by the mayor in that town for the buses of the transport company. Does the mayor have a personal interest in the transport company as to “provide” for the facilities of the company? Or is this just a slip in the appropriate choice of words? Or maybe the right one? The implications are not pleasant.

Curious about this seeming influence of Santarin over the mayor, I checked Santarin’s background. I ask him to correct the information if something is amiss in the data that I gathered so far about him. His background is important in an attempt to understand and solve this interesting situation. The more I scrutinize the letter the more the mystery unfolds.

He can send an email to this paper for a correction. The editorial staff would then pass on the information to me. If he chose to remain silent, I will presume the information from various sources and his Facebook are correct.

Initial information says he was a former employee of Vallacar Transit in Bacolod, was reinstated during the takeover by the Yanson 3 of the VTI compound and the company itself. Why his employment was terminated by the former management (the Yanson 4) and then quickly re-employed when Leo Rey Yanson returned to power is better left unsaid for the moment. What the information implies is that Santarin owes Leo Rey a new lease in life and he is not an ungrateful man.

He is said to be either from Cebu, Oriental Negros, or northern Negros, because of his language. I checked the internet and he is not certainly a Spaniard although there are many Santarins in Spain. He could be the one from Calatrava who graduated from East Negros Academy of the nearby town of Toboso. The people in these towns speak more Cebuano than Hiligaynon. Though they can easily shift the tone and diction to Hiligaynon and even English, the Cebuano speaker is easily detected.

His link to the Yanson 3 makes the application for a franchise to ply a route in Panay which is already serviced by Ceres buses of VTI a rather interesting study. Since he is signing as branch manager, then what is LOVE VISAYAS TRANSPORT EXPRESS, INC.? Is this a sister company of VTI? A spin-off? A competitor? A safety net?

The address of this new transportation company is the high-end residential area of Bacolod. There are no business offices there, much less a transportation company operating within its perimeter. This implies that the owner or owners of this company are using their residential address for the company. The corporation must have been formed but the business has not started as it needed a franchise.

From the records of the cases filed on the different prosecutor’s offices, four Yanson family members live in Capitolville: Olivia, Roy, Ginnette, Ricardo, Jr. and Leo Rey. The earlier address of Emily was Capitolville but her later address is elsewhere.

There are three Yansons living in Capitolville who are allies – Olivia, Ginnette and Leo Rey. Roy and Ricardo cannot be a member of this company. It is highly possible Love Visayas Express Transport. Inc. was organized by the Yanson 3, stockholders of Vallacar Transit Corporation. It is revealing and appropriate that the new transport company is named “Love”. Friends and family members call Olivia affectionately as “Love”.

The facts and the circumstances are too related that we can undoubtedly say that Love Visayas Express Transport, Inc. is a corporation organized by the Yanson 3.

I may be wrong so that I welcome information refuting my conclusions so corrections can be made. A document from the Securities and Exchange Commission would be the best evidence to show that the new corporation is owned by somebody else and the Yanson 3 are not in any way involved in it.

There is no law that prohibits the Yanson 3 from forming a new corporation to operate another transportation business. They have the resources and the expertise for that type of enterprise.

Then again, there are serious implications on the Yanson family feud if they are involved. However, that will be for succeeding discussions.