A STATE prosecutor from the Department of Justice (DOJ) has resolved the dispute involving siblings over the ownership of giant bus firm Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI) in Bacolod City last year.
In a resolution penned by Assistant State Prosecutor Eric Opriasa dismissed for lack of evidence a string of criminal cases against Yanson siblings Roy, Emily, Ricardo Jr., and Ma. Lourdes Celina Lopez (Y4) filed by their siblings Leo Rey and Ginette Dumancas (Y2).
Opriasa found no probable cause to indict the Y4 for alleged carnapping, possession of explosives, robbery and arbitrary detention in relation to the siege and violent takeover without a court order of VTI in Bacolod City last year.
Opriasa also said the case for alleged carnapping of 55 buses against Y4 should be struck down for “dearth of evidence.”
He cited the lack of unlawful taking as the buses were voluntarily parked by their drivers in the compound of Dynamic Builders, a company owned by one of the respondents.
The DoJ prosecutor pointed out that the drivers “simply parked their bus units inside the premises of Dynamic Builders on the premise that it would be safe in the said place.”
The keys, which were in the drivers’ possession, were eventually turned over to VTI, he said.
It can be recalled that the series of cases against Y4 stemmed from the chaotic siege and takeover of the bus firm’s head office and bus stations sans a court order by Leo Rey and Bacolod police in August 2019.
This, despite Leo Rey’s pending suit questioning his earlier ouster as VTI President.
In the same resolution, Opriasa dismissed the charges against the spouse and children of Y4, namely: Margarethe Rose, Riana Micole, and Christopher Olric Yanson, all directors of Dynamic Builders.
Likewise, grave coercion charges against Roy, Emily Yanson, Ma. Lourdes Celina Lopez, Rose, Riana Micole, and Christopher Yanson were dismissed since “no sufficient evidence was established by complainant” against them.
Opriasa, however, indicted Ricardo Yanson Jr., for grave coercion and violation of the Public Service Act for alleged delays in returning VTI’s buses, while Emily Yanson was indicted for falsification and perjury.
Their lawyers said they would exhaust all available legal remedies including elevating the case for review by the Secretary of Justice.
Meanwhile, charges of possession of explosives under Republic Act 9516 were also dismissed in its entirety by the DOJ prosecutor as Y4 “were neither in physical or constructive possession of the items recovered.”
The DOJ noted that the recovery of the items “creates a serious question of credibility as to their source of origin,” adding that the “complaint is anchored generally in conjectures, suspicions, and speculations and therefore have no probative value and cannot stand in the realm of evidence.”
Concurrently, the charges against Y4 for Robbery by the Use of Force upon Things, Possession of Picklock or Similar Tools were likewise dismissed by the DOJ.
The DOJ junked the criminal complaints against Y4 following an earlier dismissal of another set of criminal cases against them for arbitrary detention, grave threats, grave coercion, among others.
The intra-corporate actions and counter-suit filed by the siblings against each other are pending before the Bacolod RTC and Court of Appeals in Cebu.