Yanson 4 lawyer says clients are still innocent

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – The Bacolod Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 7 barred four lawyers from prosecuting siblings Ricardo Yanson, Jr., Roy Yanson, Emily Yanson, Ma. Lourdes Celina Lopez, or Yanson 4, for grave coercion, according to the lawyer of the four siblings.

The case is still part of the ongoing feud of the Yanson 4 against their brother Leo Rey, sister Ginnette, and mother Olivia over control of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies which includes Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI), operator of Ceres Bus Liner.

Atty. Carlo Joaquin Narvasa, counsel for Yanson 4, said the siblings maintain their innocence and that the criminal complaint was not authorized to be filed by VTI whose management is still being questioned before the Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 53, in a petition filed in December 2019.

Narvasa also said that the issuance of a warrant of arrest, if any is forthcoming, “does not at all detract from the presumption of innocence they enjoy as an accused in any criminal case, an entitlement which is a basic constitutional right. It also is a bailable offense.”

During the proceedings before MTC Branch 7, the court disallowed the participation of lawyers Gerry Lena, Jubert Katalbas, Maria Corazon Katalbas, and Lennon Corgus as private prosecutors and stopped them from speaking on complainant’s behalf, Narvasa added.

He further said the Office of the City Prosecutor of Bacolod City explained that they did not authorize Lena and his group to appear and act for the government in the case against the Yanson 4.