Mgt Crisis Stalls Ceres Operations

Management Crisis Stalls Ceres Operations



Sun, Jul 28, 2019


The family feud among the Bacolod-based directors of the Yanson Group of Companies, which operate Vallacar Transit and Ceres Liner, has reached Dumaguete.

Over 200 buses, mostly plying the Dumaguete-Manjuyod route, were unable to leave the terminal Friday as confusion hampered the operations of Ceres Liner.

Roy Yanson, the new president who succeeded his ousted brother Leo Rey, arrived from Bacolod late Thursday night, and replaced the guards and the management of the Dumaguete operations.

They succeeded in taking over the bus firm’s garage in barangay Bagacay.

Roy and three of his siblings, citing loss of confidence, staged a company takeover on July 7.

The new management under Roy has four directors, while the minority has two directors, who are backed by their mother, Olivia.

Yanson, interviewed earlier by Bacolod media, said that as a corporation, decisions should be decided by the majority of the members of the Board. And because he got the majority of the votes to be the new president, the other directors have to respect that.

He explained that only six of them siblings are the directors of the Vallacar Transit. “Our mother has no more shares in our company as she and our father gave their shares to be divided equally among us siblings,” he said.





With Roy controlling the company garage/shop, drivers and conductors still loyal to the Leo Rey chose to run the operations from the Calindagan bus terminal, prohibiting the buses from going to the compound of the Ceres garage/shop in barangay Bagacay, where they used to go for a post-travel check-up.

Carlos Valencia, newly-installed OIC of the bus company’s Dumaguete operations, said as a result of the action of the drivers and conductors loyal to the old management, several drivers, conductors and inspectors were not able to work because they had no buses to drive.

“I pity the drivers and conductors who want to work because they are prohibited from doing so. They only earn a percentage of the earnings so if they are not allowed to drive, they have no income,” Valencia told Dumaguete reporters.

However, by 5 p.m. Friday, policemen arrived at the Bagacay terminal accompanied by a bus company official loyal to Leo Rey, and, in the words of Roy, arrested their five guards. This created a standoff at the Ceres garage.

Roy and his brother Ricardo Jr. said the police presence only created tension in the area. “As you can see, there was no trouble before the police arrived,” the brothers said.

Dimple Tinapao, administrative officer of Ceres Liner, said that the instruction of Leo Rey was to demand that the group of Roy present a court order before they can be allowed inside.

She said Leo Rey has filed a case against his four other siblings seeking to stop the resolution made during a special meeting on July 7 ousting him as CEO and replacing him with his brother Roy. But she assured that operations will continue, and appealed to the drivers to come back to work.

Tinapao said the company cannot afford to delay the riding public because their franchise is at stake. She belied allegations made by the side of Roy that the drivers were prevented from working.

“Before they were here, our operations were peaceful. Now, it’s chaotic. All they have to do is to wait for a court order but they couldn’t wait,” she said.

About the same time in Bacolod Friday, it was similarly tense as employees loyal to Roy controlled the passenger terminal backed by guards from a new security company.

Vallacar Transit co-founder Olivia Villaflores Yanson stood her ground outside of the Ceres bus terminal as buses operated by drivers and conductors loyal to their side, took passengers. The buses no longer entered the Bacolod bus terminal.

“I have appealed to my children to wait for the court order before we make changes,” she told reporters.

She said she and her husband, Ricardo Sr., appointed their youngest son Leo Rey as president a few years ago, because they believed that Leo Rey could run the company better.

In the interview in Bacolod, which was carried live on social media, she said they did not choose their eldest son Roy for the presidency because he is sickly, and has a poor track record in running a business. “He had a jeepney business which failed. He had a trucking service, it also failed,” she said.

With Leo Rey at the helm, the company experienced rapid growth, and became the No. 1 bus company in the country. Reports say there are about 4,800 Ceres buses throughout the country, while the popular Luzon-based Victory Liner has only 800 buses.





On the other hand, the disgruntled officers and members of the Philippine Agriculture, Commercial & Industrial Workers Union (PACIWU) have filed a notice to hold a strike, citing the still-unresolved dispute within the Yanson family, operator of the bus firm Vallacar Transit Inc.

PACIWU National President Hernane Braza told reporters it is their way of calling out the management to immediately address the concerns of their employees. “Our ground to hold a strike is the harassment of our union officers,” he explained.

He said several officers of PACIWU were facing charges for allegedly destabilizing the operation of the bus firm. “They made it appear that workers were poised to strike on July 14,” said Braza.

Braza also cited the delay in Vallacar employees’ retirement and separate pay, incentives, mutual aid fund, and other claims for about four months now.

Braza said they have yet to confirm the dates of the strike as they are following proper procedure.

The Union President also assured the riding public there will be no total disruption of the bus company’s operation.

The matriarch Olivia said the desire of the workers to strike is within their rights. She said she cannot prevent them from holding a strike because even she has a hard time solving the situation at the bus company.

As the MetroPost went to press Saturday afternoon, efforts were still made by both factions to gain total control of the company, and normalize operations. (Alex Pal)











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What a soap opera.

 

Many of the affected people are unable to feed their families during this internal battle, sadly.

 

Pinoy word is greed is in our culture.

 

Ceres reported a staggering 77.8 million dollar (4 billion pesos) net income in 2018.

That’s their justification to toss...Leo Rey?

 

There was talk on some fb groups/pages about the need to have another company in competition with them, but when there are already UV Express vans, Jeepney and minibuses, i believe they already have sufficient competition.

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