MANILA, Philippines – The Bacolod Regional Trial Court has declared as null and void the extrajudicial settlement (EJS) of estate that splintered Negros island’s billionaire Yanson clan, owners of the country’s largest transport fleet.
In the January 21 ruling obtained by Rappler, Branch 45 Presiding Judge Phoebe Gargantel-Balbin granted Yanson matriarch Olivia V. Yanson’s petition to nullify the EJS of the estate of her husband Ricardo, who died on October 25, 2015 without a will.
The judge gave weight to the 91-year-old Olivia’s claim that she never waived her 50 percent share of the conjugal gains, even as she had waived her 1/7th share from her husband’s share of their joint estate.
Olivia said she never agreed to the EJS annexes showing her waiving all her shares. These were attached to the main document after signing, she said.
The country’s Civil Code mandates conjugal partnership or equal ownership unless parties sign a prenuptial agreement or other marriage settlements.
The judge also noted that the EJS was not published in a newspaper of general circulation; that a bond was never posted in relation to the extrajudicial settlement of Mr. Yanson’s estate; and that the EJS and annexes were not filed with the Registry of Deeds.
The judge, however, junked Olivia’s claim for damages. While the EJS has been used by the opposing side in filing several cases, the judge said these happened before it was declared null and void.
She also said the plaintiff did not sufficiently show bad faith on the part of the defendants to entitle her to the award of attorney’s fees.
The decision makes Olivia majority owner of the transport behemoth that includes Vallacar Transit Incorporated, Ceres Liner Travel and Tours Incorporated, Ceres Transport Incorporated, Mindanao Star Bus Transport Incorporated, Bachelor Express Incorporated, Southern Star Bus Transport Incorporated, Gold Star Bus Transit Incorporated, and Rural Transit (Mindanao) Incorporated.
Since Olivia has disinherited four of her children, the decision also means only two siblings will share her estate.
That EJS is at the root of a family feud that rocked a nationwide bus fleet ferrying more than 850,000 passengers daily.
On the matriarch’s side are Leo Rey, the youngest child and president and CEO of Vallacar Transit, and daughter Ginnette Y. Dumangcas.
On the other side are Roy, Emily, Ma. Lourdes Celina Y. Lopez, and Ricardo Jr. Another son died decades before the patriarch’s passing.
Family feud
For over a decade, Negrenses who’d seen the seven Yanson children grow up in the modest, gateless middle-class village of Homesite, have watched boardroom lockouts, physical altercations, a string of cases, and the eventual flight of four siblings to dodge arrest warrants for non-bailable crimes.
The feud has led to the suspension of a lawyer, qualified theft, falsification, and perjury complaints.
The EJS sparked a boardroom battle, with the four older siblings unseating Leo Rey from his position in favor of Roy, the eldest son.
At one point, the Philippine National Police (PNP) Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agencies (Sosia) had to step in, banning guards hired by the feuding siblings from the company’s bus terminal.
Protagonists have also proffered a toss-coin challenge and read heart-felt letters, but the feud raged on.
The long-running quarrel prompted Olivia to write a will leaving only Leo Rey and Ginnette as her only heirs, disinheriting the other four. A court in October 2023 gave the green light for probate of that will.
In rare public statements, the matriarch lamented how she got sidelined after a lifetime of being her husband’s equal as they slowly expanded a one-jeepney enterprise founded in 1968 into a company with at least 5,100 buses. It is among Asia’s top three biggest bus fleets.
The Yanson Group website states the corporation has 2,000 employees, but nine bus companies under it employ 18,000 workers.
In exile
Olivia’s four estranged children quietly left the country before a Bacolod court issued in December 2022 arrest warrants for qualified theft linked to missing equipment, documents, and other assets of Vallacar. The Court of Appeals affirmed that ruling in June 2023.
The Yanson 4 siblings — Roy Yanson, Emily Yanson, Ma. Lourdes Celina Yanson-Lopez, and Ricardo Yanson Jr. — also filed a qualified theft, falsification, and perjury complaint against their mother and other siblings, Ginnette Yanson Dumangcas and Leo Rey, and others.
But the Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed with finality the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision to dismiss the complaint.
Rappler has reached out to the Yanson 4 siblings for their reaction to this latest court ruling. We will update this story in case they respond. – Rappler.com
