Another Yanson firm reelects Leo Rey as chair

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Philippines — One of the seven subsidiaries of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies (YGBC), the biggest bus conglomerate in the country, has reelected Leo Rey Yanson as its top executive amid the legal battle involving members of the family.

Leo Rey was recently reelected as chairman and president of Rural Transit Mindanao Inc. (RTMI).

YGBC has been rocked in controversy when four of Leo Rey’s siblings tried to wrest the leadership of the group from him last year.

Leo Rey is the youngest of the six siblings.

Siding with him during the attempted takeover of the company was the Yanson matriarch Olivia and his sister Ginnette Yanson-Dumancas.

RTMI is the third Mindanao-based YGBC-owned bus company that conducted its annual stockholders’ meeting at the company’s headquarters in Barangay Bulua here.

The other YGBC-controlled bus companies operating in Mindanao – Mindanao Star Bus Transport Inc. and Bachelor Express Inc. – had already conducted their respective stockholders’ meeting here.

The other bus firms operating in other parts of the country include the Vallacar Transit Inc., Ceres Transport Inc., Southern Star Bus Transport Inc., and Sugbo Transit Inc.

A press statement provided to reporters on Friday after the annual RTMI stockholders’ meeting quoted Leo Rey appealing to his four siblings — Roy, Emily, Ricardo Jr., and Ma. Lourdes Celina Yanson-Lopez, who are collectively known as the Yanson 4 — to stand down and abstain from making pronouncements regarding the case they are currently facing.

The Yanson 4 members reportedly held their own annual stockholders’ meeting in a hotel here on Wednesday.

But Leo Rey’s group cited that under RTMI’s by-laws, the annual stockholders’ meeting of the company should be held at its principal office in Cagayan de Oro City.

Aside from Leo Rey and Olivia, also present during the meeting were Ginnette, Charles M. Dumancas, Anita G. Chua, Rey C. Ardo, and Daniel Nicolas P. Golez.

/atm