Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro courts affirm warrants of arrest vs Yanson sibling
TWO courts in Bacolod City and Cagayan de Oro City affirmed the warrants of arrest they issued earlier against Emily Yanson for alleged perjury and falsification of public documents in connection with the financial statements and general information sheet of Rural Transit Mindanao Inc. (RTMI) and Bachelor Express Inc. (BEI) which are under the Yanson Group of Bus Companies.
In an order dated November 15, 2021, the Municipal Trial Court Branch 7 of Bacolod City affirmed the warrants of arrest against Emily for three counts of perjury and three counts of falsification of public documents. It also denied Emily’s motion for leave of court with urgent motion for reinvestigation and to recall warrants of arrest.
It said, “there is no need to conduct reinvestigation and, subsequently, recall the warrants of arrest as this court, in the exercise of its judicial function, is convinced that there exists probable cause against the accused”.
The court said that “the resolution of the extrajudicial settlement is not indispensable to determine the issue in these instant criminal cases.”
Meanwhile, the Municipal Trial Court Branch 3 of Cagayan De Oro also affirmed the warrants of arrest issued against Emily for five counts of perjury and eight counts of falsification of public documents.
In a joint order dated January 5, 2022, the court denied Emily’s motion for suspension of proceedings and holding in abeyance the issuance of and/or recall warrants of arrest.
Acting on Emily’s motion, the court said the “issues in the cases of falsification of public documents and perjury are different from the issues raised in the civil case and the intra corporate cases”.
“The making of untruthful statement in falsification and perjury is the actus reus or the guilty act which is the basis of the said crimes. This act is independent and not intimately related to the issues in the civil and corporate cases as this involved the mental state of accused at the time the crimes were committed,” it said.
The Cagayan de Oro court said the warrants of arrest issued by the court dated October 7, 2021 were returned unserved as Emily Yanson is not residing/cannot be found in the address stated in the information.
Emily Yanson, together with her siblings Roy, Celina and Ricky, are believed to be out of the country since March 2020.
The court then asked the prosecution panel to submit the correct address of Emily Yanson for the issuance of an alias warrant of arrest.
Olivia Yanson, the conjugal co-owner and co-founder of the Yanson Group, was appointed by the court as the special administrator of the estate of her late husband Ricardo B. Yanson Sr.
