DESPITE her age, Olivia V. Yanson (OVY) has not lost her right as the co-founder and owner of the country’s largest bus company.
This was the clarification made by Vallacar Transit, Inc. (VTI) president Leo Rey Yanson (LRY) after four of his siblings did not attend the special stockholders meeting on Aug. and questioned the right of their mother as a stockholder of the corporation.
“To my siblings in the other camp, if you really love our mother, please be sincere in your actions. OVY eagerly awaits all of you. Do it now please, while she is still with us,” Leo Ray was quoted as saying.
Established in 1968, the 52-year-old bus conglomerate which was founded by the late Ricardo B. Yanson Sr. (RBY) and his wife Olivia, now has a total of 18,000 employees who provide transport services to some 700,000 passengers daily.
The family feud started on July 7 after the four Yanson siblings in a purported special board meeting, unseated Leo Rey Yanson as the president of VTI.
He was subsequently replaced by his eldest brother Roy Yanson but Leo Rey with the support of his mother Olivia V. Yanson and sister Ginnette Y. Dumancas, refused to step down.
It can be recalled that on Aug. 19, the stockholders of VTI, including the Yanson matriarch, elected a new set of board of directors who subsequently re-elected Leo Rey Yanson as the president of the company.
During a special stockholders meeting, the members re-affirmed Leo Rey Yanson as the rightful president of VTI – the largest subsidiary of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies and is the company behind Ceres Liner and Sugbo Transit.
However, the other four siblings claimed that the said special stockholders meeting lacked the quorum because their mother is no longer an owner of VTI.
Following the incident, Leo Rey asked his siblings to respect the right of their mother and remember the words of their late father that he tried to instil as a core family value – “Respect is earned, not given!”
He said family relationships, business dealings and human relations thrive on respect as a solid, indispensable foundation.
“Respect runs deep, and is the aortic component in every family, without which, everything crumbles in a whiff,” Ley Rey said, adding that “VTI was started and honed to what it is now by our parents as a conjugal venture.”
“Given this, it is but fitting and proper that OVY be accorded respect and control over what she built over the years,” he said.
During a recent press conference, the Yanson matriarch said “I work so hard so I don’t have to ask from my children when I am old.”
Leo Rey said his parents built Ceres from scratch. “Allow her to enjoy the fruits of her hard-earned labor.”/PN
