Worsening Yanson family feud

By: Modesto P. Sa-onoy

The assault of the Philippine National Police and forcible entry into the Mansilingan headquarters of Vallacar Transit supposedly to install a security agency is unusual as it fielded a reported 200 policemen and done with stealth. It also raises the question of whether it is the function of the police to install a private security agency in favor of one party involved in a corporate conflict without a court order.

The police action only aggravated the situation. It clearly overstepped its functions that should send shudders in the hearts of persons and entities that have purely private differences. Without a court order or clear and imminent danger of grave public disorder, the police deployed an equivalent of one-third of the entire police force of Bacolod.

No wonder there was an “instant” robbery of jewelry in a supermarket as if the robbers knew that the city will be practically devoid of police security. But that is for the higher police authorities and maybe the courts to determine whether the destruction of private property to install a private security company is legal. The news says the camp of the Yanson 4 (siblings Roy, Celina, Emily, and Ricardo Jr.) is studying their legal options. I think they should file the case to clarify whether the role of the PNP as the registering and supervising authority for security agencies include their forcible installation.

So now, that the group of the Yanson family headed by its matriarch and two children have taken over the property, will that be a victory and the defeat of the four others? Hardly, to my mind. The occupancy of the property is hollow and temporary and a Pyrrhic victory that can bring the company into a state of corporate paralysis.

The Yanson 3 (matriarch Olivia  and children Ginette Y. Dumancas and Leo Rey) even if they occupied that main office, do not have the control of the board of directors and therefore cannot freely exercise corporate authority on vital matters that require majority consent.

The news said that Roy Yanson simply and peacefully left the compound because he was not feeling well. That is a credit to the man who wanted peace and should have given the police the signal that no untoward incident would occur. His departure is like declaring an Open City in times of war that even the most vicious of the enemy respects. But the police decided to play the hero to whoever was its patron and engaged in dramatics. Were they inflicted by the Ang Probinsyano bug or The Enforcer? They probably were that they conveniently forgot the parameters of their legal and moral functions.

Indeed, Roy’s departure that practically allowed the “recovery” of the power base was the wisest move because he prevented a situation that could provide the police with a justification for their questionable actions. In fact, the news says the police have found some Molotov bombs inside the compound but who owned them? It could have been planted by the police to validate their decision to raid a peaceful place.

Roy’s departure means he never intended to engage in violence just to keep himself inside the main office. Nevertheless, whether true or not the fact remains that the PNP entered in a manner that raised questions as to how high in their hierarchy the decision came.

It was, for instance, unnatural for the chief of police of Bacolod to personally open the gate that even a rookie can be ordered to do so. To whom or for what was the chief of police playing for? Why were the police so assured that they destroyed a wall of the compound to get in and to deny the entry of food and water as if they were in a siege of a medieval castle? Such drama was played for media in what now can become a Tele-Ceres.

While it may appear that the Yanson 4 had “lost” by giving up the Mansilingan compound and active control of the operations, I think this is the best thing to have happened in this continuing public entertainment at the expense of the unity and love in a family and a threat to public welfare. Now we have the police wanting a role in the Tele-Ceres.

Somehow this public quarrel must end. I believe that the solution to this family and corporate conflict has ironically emerged, thanks to the forcible police intrusion.

How? Let’s discuss that option tomorrow.