A prominent lawyer representing four Yanson siblings in a corporate legal tussle against the management of the country’s largest bus company has a different interpretation of a recent Court of Appeals decision.
Truth hurts, and apparently Atty. Sigfrid Fortun, who represents the Yanson 4 siblings, could not believe that the 19th Division of the CA based in Cebu affirmed a Bacolod court’s decision to issue a warrant of arrest against his clients for the non-bailable offense of qualified theft.
Atty. Fortun in fact denied that there are valid warrants of arrests against his clients—Roy, Ricardo, Ma. Lourdes Celina and Emily Yanson, or collectively known as the Yanson 4, who tried to grab the management of Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI) from their mother Olivia Yanson and their brother Leo Rey Yanson in 2019.
Apparently, Atty. Fortun made his assertion based on a one-year-old court order which was superseded by a recent decision. Madrid Danao & Associates, counsel for Vallacar Transit Inc.’s management led by Leo Rey Yanson, insists that recently, the CA affirmed a Bacolod court’s warrant of arrest and hold departure order against Yanson 4 who are nowhere to be found in the Philippines.
Madrid Danao & Associates, speaking through Atty. Peter Paul Danao, disputed the statement by Atty. Fortun that the CA-Cebu had nullified the warrant issued by Bacolod City Regional Trial Court Branch 44 Presiding Judge Ana Celeste Pinero Bernad on December 2, 2022 in Criminal Case No. 20-52097.
Atty. Danao said while it is true that the CA Cebu in its decision dated September 14, 2022 initially voided the original warrant of arrest issued by the lower court for failing to comply with her constitutional mandate, the CA recently issued a new order affirming Judge Bernad’s order.
“Atty. Fortun omitted that the lower court, in compliance with this CA Cebu decision, subsequently issued a revised and expanded order dated 02 December 2022 discussing and finding probable cause against the Y4. The CA Cebu then affirmed this in its Resolution dated 21 June 2023,” Danao said in a statement.
Danao said that in the same Resolution, the CA Cebu even praised the lower court for issuing its December 2, 2022 order declaring that it “was an exercise of her inherent power to amend and control the court’s processes and orders as to make them expeditious and still conformable to law”.
In its a 17-page resolution, the appellate court’s 19th Division held that Judge Bernad did not err when she issued the order dated December 2, 2022 finding probable cause for qualified theft against the Yanson 4.
“If Atty. Fortun claims that there is no existing valid warrant for qualified theft against Y4, then why did he appeal the CA Resolution dated June 21, 2023 to the Supreme Court? And more curiously, why are the Y4 still in hiding abroad since March 2020?” Danao asked.
The Yanson 4 also face warrants of arrest issued in 2020 for several crimes such as non-bailable carnapping in Criminal Case Nos. 20-51587 to 89 and grave coercion in Criminal Case No. 20-03-34459.
The Yanson 4 belongs to one camp, while their mother Olivia and siblings Leo Rey Yanson and Ginnette Dumanacas remain in physical control of the bus firm and its operations.
The qualified theft charges were filed against the Yanson 4 in connection with the missing equipment, documents, and other assets following their attempted takeover of the operation of VTI. The Yanson 4 removed Leo Rey as president of VTI and replaced him with Roy in a special board meeting on July 7, 2019. The Yanson 4 took over VTI’s head office from July 7 to August 5, 2019.
This prompted Leo Rey to file a case against them questioning his removal and asked the court to nullify the special board meeting and reinstate him as president of VTI.
Aside from the qualified theft charges, the Yanson 4 were also charged with carnapping and grave coercion before Branch 53 of the Bacolod City RTC.
