• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The petition of Vallacar Transit Inc. matriarch Olivia V. Yanson (OVY) for the annulment of deeds of extra-judicial settlement of estate, reconveyance, and prayer for the issuance of temporary restraining order, and/or preliminary injunction, and or/status quo ante has been dismissed by Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 42 Judge Maria Lina Gonzaga.
In her issued order, dated October 2 this year, Gonzaga said she ordered the dismissal without prejudice of the petition of Olivia V. Yanson, noting OVY and her lawyers’ proclivity to trifle with court processes.
The defendants in the petition, as stated in the Civil Case No. 18-15199, are the Yanson siblings Roy, Emily, Ma. Lourdes Celina, and Ricardo Yanson Jr., also known as Y4.
Judge Gonzaga noted that OVY counsel filed an amended complaint on Oct. 11, 2018, only to be amended by a second complaint on September 25, 2019. Yet, on Sept. 25 this year, the plaintiff counsel subsequently moved to withdraw the second amended complaint and to continue the proceedings under the first amended complaint, according to a statement issued by the Narvasa Law Office, whose services were retained by the Y4.
Instead of complying with the court’s order, OVY’s lead counsel withdrew from the case and did not file the compliance required by the court, and instead filed for an extension of time to comply therewith, the statement added.
The court notes that plaintiff and counsels, through submission of the second amended complaint and the subsequent withdrawal of the same after the lapse of more than two years (excluding the pandemic years) showed a proclivity to trifle with the Court process as further proven through the prayer to continue the proceedings under the Oct. 11, 2018 complaint, Judge Gonzaga said.
It is noted that plaintiff received the August 11, 2023 order on Aug. 24 this year through electronic mail, which the counsel acknowledged on the same day. Plaintiff was given until Sept. 8, 2023 to comply with the Court’s order. Instead of filing compliance, the plaintiff filed the second withdrawal of the second amended complaint, withdrawal of counsel’s appearance and a second motion for extension to file compliance, the judge said.
These actions, according to Judge Gonzaga, have taken up the Court’s precious time, which could have been spent resolving other more important cases.
Judge Gonzaga also denied the withdrawal of Atty. Melanio Elvis Balayan as plaintiff counsel, since it failed to contain any valid reason for such withdrawal.
Records show that plaintiff failed to comply with the Court’s order until this time. Despite the lapse of 17 days, plaintiff did not file compliance but asked for extension, instead, the judge noted.
The complaint is, as it should be, ordered dismissed without prejudice, Judge Gonzaga said.
In a statement issued by the Narvasa law office, it said that Dr. Ricardo B. Yanson (RBY), Sr., the founder of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies (YGBC) died intestate, or without leaving a will, on Oct. 25, 2015.
Subsequently, his compulsory heirs Dr. Olivia V. Yanson and their six children, executed EJS of his estate on Dec. 16, 2015 and amended later on Dec. 20, 2017, to include all existing properties not found in the first EJS in order to partition and distribute RBY’s entire estate among themselves, taking cue from the Shareholders’ Agreement all of them – both parents, six (6) children and the latter’s spouses – acquiesced into earlier on October 10, 2013, where they all agreed to a seamless transfer ultimately of all shares in the bus companies to be divided equally among the six Yanson siblings, the statement further said.
In the dismissal of the Civil Case No. 18-15199 or OVY’s challenge to the legality and validity of the Extra Judicial Settlement, it means that she and their faction, which includes Leo Rey Yanson (LRY) and Ginette Yanson Dumancas (GYD), had failed to invalidate the EJS Deeds until now, the statement said.
Justice delayed is justice denied, the statement added.*
