Court orders ‘Yanson 4’ to surrender titles, docs

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Court of Appeals (CA) ordered the four Yanson siblings of Ceres Transport to surrender several titles and documents deemed by the lower court as essential evidence in a criminal case.

On July 30, 2024, the 20th Division of the Court of Appeals, amended a decision ordering Roy Yanson, Ma. Lourdes Celina Y. Lopez, Ricardo V. Yanson Jr., and Emily V. Yanson, or the “Yanson 4,” to surrender certificates of title and related documents they previously admitted to be in their possession.

The Yanson 4 tried to take over Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI) in 2019. The court’s amended decision grants the petition for certiorari filed by the VTI management led by president and chief executive officer (CEO) Leo Rey V. Yanson and corporate secretary Olivia V. Yanson, the matriarch of the Yanson Group.

The CA directed the Yanson 4 to submit to the custody of the trial court various original and certified true copies of certificates of title and related documents admitted to be in their possession.

“The court a quo is directed to identify the subject documents to be surrendered as indicated in the information and as identified by the prosecutor in Criminal Case No. 20-52097, and in the private respondents’ letter addressed to the register of deeds, and in their comment to the DOJ,” according to the amended decision.

The amended order was directed to Yanson 4, along with Judge Ana Celester P. Bernad, presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court Branch 44 in Bacolod City, Vallacar Transit Inc. and Hernan B. Omecillo.

Judge Bernad previously denied the urgent motion to order the four Yanson siblings to surrender the documents they seized from VTI in 2019. The judge also denied the motion for reconsideration of the case.

The items include original certificates of title of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies’ properties and those registered under the name of the Yanson family as well as supporting documents such as tax declarations, vicinity maps, deeds of sale, and memorandum of agreements, among others.

Court records showed that on June 9, 2020, the acting Bacolod City prosecutor accused Yanson 4 of the crime of qualified theft, which is penalized under Article 310 concerning Article 308 of the Revised Penal Code.

As charged in the prosecutor’s information, the respondents, representing themselves as the new officers of VTI, took and carried away various items, including important documents to which they had access because of their fiduciary capacity in the company.

In its amended decision, the CA dispelled the notion that the purpose for placing the subject documents under custodia legis is to ensure the provision or preservation of evidence for the benefit of the petitioner in the prosecution of Criminal Case No. 20-52098 for qualified theft (main case).

“To clarify, it is meant as an ancillary measure to secure the effective adjudication and enforcement of the rights of all the parties, once the main case has run its proper course,” the CA said. “Ours was a grant of provisional relief to preserve the status quo, until such time that the merits of the main case can be heard by the trial court.”

The CA said that having voluntarily admitted possession of the subject documents not just in official correspondence but also in filings related to the main case, such as their comment and several other pleadings, the Yanson 4 could not claim that the directive to surrender these documents to the court a quo for safekeeping violates their right against self-incrimination.

“Our assailed decision simply directed respondents Yanson to surrender the subject documents, as indicated in the information and admitted in their letter to the register of deeds and comment to the DOJ, to the trial court in order to place these in custodia legis. Such relief being ancillary to the main case, the parties can flesh out a list of the subject documents with the court a quo, submitting any other supporting documents as the latter may require,” it said.

“In fine, while the parties herein have presented no new and convincing documents which would justify a modification or reversal of our assailed decision, we deem it best to amend the same in order to include a corresponding directive for the court a quo,” the appellate court said.

The Bacolod-based Yanson Group, whose units ply across Luzon, Visayas, and

Mindanao operates a fleet of over 4,000 buses with more than 18,000 employees

across the country.

The company operates and owns Ceres Liner Travel and Tours, Inc., Ceres

Transport, Inc., Mindanao Star Bus Transport, Inc., Bachelor Express, Inc., Southern

Star Bus Transport Inc., Gold Star Bus Transit, Inc., and Rural Transit (Mindanao) Inc.