THE Bacolod City Regional Trial Court has approved the last will and testament of Olivia Villaflores Yanson, the matriarch of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies, that effectively disinherits four of her six children and recognizes only two as her legal heirs.
In a 27-page decision dated August 31, 2023, Branch 44 Presiding Judge Ana Celeste Bernad approved the petition of the 89-year-old Yanson for validation of her last will and testament.
The Yanson clan owns and operates the Yanson Group of Bus Company (YGBC), the largest bus conglomerate in the country that transports goods and an estimated 700,000 passengers daily. It includes Rural Transit of Mindanao Inc. (Rural Transit, Rural Tours), Bachelor Express Inc. (Bachelor Express and Bachelor Tours), Southern Star Bus Transit Inc. (Southern Star), Ceres Transport Inc. (Ceres Transport), Gold Star Bus Transit Inc. (Gold Star), and Mindanao Star Bus Transport Inc. (Island City Express and Mindanao Star).
In her last will and testament, Yanson disinherited four of her children — Roy, Emily, Ma. Lourdes Celina and Ricardo Jr. — and named Leo Rey and Ginnette as her legal heirs.
In her decision, Bernad said the four disinherited children failed to present any evidence to the court that would show that there was undue influence or pressure exerted on their mother before or during the execution of her last will and testament.
“That there are several cases between Petitioner and Oppositors does not, to the Court’s mind, show undue influence or pressure made upon Petitioner. Likewise, the other testimonies of Oppositor’s witnesses also did not show any how any undue influence or pressure was exerted on the Petitioner,” she said.
“Wherefore premises considered, the Last Will and Testament of Petitioner Olivia Villaflores Yanson is allowed probate as it complied with the formalities required by law,” she ruled.
Probate is a legal process that occurs after a person has died. The deceased person’s will is validated by the court and their assets distributed accordingly.
In deciding in favor of the Yanson matriarch, the court cited Article 809 of the Civil Code which states that “in the absence of bad faith, forgery, or fraud, or undue and improper pressure and influence, defects and imperfections in the form of attestation or in the language used therein shall not render the will invalid if it is proved that the will was in fact executed and attested in substantial compliance with all the requirements of Article 805.”
The trial court also held that though she was already 85 years old when she made her last will and testament, Yanson was still in “full possession of all her reasoning faculties, or her mind was unbroken, unimpaired or unshattered by disease, injury, or other cause, and that she asked her lawyers to prepare a draft containing all the provisions she wanted.”
“She knew the nature and extent of her Estate and she clearly understood the import and consequences of making a last will and testament,” it also said, adding that she also affixed her signature on every page of the document.
Lastly, the trial court said that the ruling closely hewed to the 2020 decision of the Supreme Court that the main issue which the courts must decide in probate proceedings is the due execution or the extrinsic validity of the will as provided in Section 1, Rule 75 of the Rules of Court.
The High Court had said that due execution is “whether the testator, being of sound mind, freely executed the will in accordance with the formalities prescribed by law.”
The Yanson matriarch and her children Leo Rey and Ginnette remain in physical control of the bus firm and its operations.
The battle to control the company between the Yanson siblings escalated into a legal battle with both sides filing charges against the other and claiming they are the real management.
A Bacolod court, in an October 2021 decision, granted Olivia the mandate to oversee and administer the estate of her late husband who co-founded the YGBC in 1968.
