Ousted president accused of unlawful withdrawals
By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Amid the ongoing dispute over control of Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI), parent company of the Ceres Bus Liner, between siblings Roy Yanson and Leo Rey Yanson, with the former ousting the latter as company president, family matriarch Olivia Yanson called on VTI chief financial officer Celina Yanson-Lopez to account for P380 million in alleged losses.
Yanson said she has yet to receive an explanation on the matter.
In a letter furnished to local media, the elder Yanson stated: “While you speak of measures to protect the company from any unexplained and unliquidated expenses that would eventually pull the company down, you conveniently forgot—or omitted—the fact that sometime in May 2018, your division, the finance division, of which you are the chief finance officer, was and continues to be unable to explain the loss of P380 million pesos.”
She noted, responsibility over the matter falls upon the CFO.
Yanson, who earlier expressed her support for the ousted company president, vowed to conduct a thorough audit.
“If there is anything hidden or any motive discovered, you have a fiduciary obligation to bear the blame of such catastrophic loss,” she warned.
Meanwhile, Yanson-Lopez also released a separate statement where she accused the former company president of unlawful withdrawals amounting to “millions of pesos.” She claimed such actions are a violation of company policy, wherein such transactions require approval from the Board of Directors.
She said the withdrawals “endangered the financial stability of the company” and claimed it directly impacted company employees as the funds were reportedly earmarked for salary disbursements.
Yanson-Lopez said the alleged actions took place between June 1 and June 17 of this year and speculated there may have been earlier cases as well.
“What is so unfair is that the removal of Leo Rey Yanson is being blamed for this alleged ongoing estate negotiations of our late father, Ricardo Yanson,” the CFO asserted. “That is a separate matter.”
“Leo Rey was removed as president of the company for violating company rules on illegal withdrawal of funds that in turn affects the welfare of our employees,” she affirmed. “The management investigated the matter and he was asked to explain; unfortunately, he could not reasonably justify why he disbursed the missing funds without prior board approval.”
Roy Yanson’s lawyers earlier said his appointment as president was compliant with procedure and cited a loss of trust and confidence as the reason why the previous head was “voted out.”/DGB, WDJ