The Bacolod City Regional Trial Court (RTC) has allowed Olivia V. Yanson, the matriarch of the family that owns the biggest bus company in the Philippines, to disinherit four of her six children.
In a decision dated Aug. 31, 2023, Bacolod RTC Branch 44 Presiding Judge Ana Celeste Bernard said the last will and testament of Olivia “complied with the formalities required by law.”
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 89-year-old billionaire businesswoman filed a petition for probate of her last will and testament in April 2019. A probate is a legal process that validates a will.
In her will, Olivia named Leo Rey and Ginnette as the universal heirs, while Roy, Emily, Ma. Lourdes Celina and Ricardo Jr., who are collectively known as the Yanson 4, will not receive any inheritance from their mother.
According to the court, the four who opposed the probate process failed to “present any evidence to the court that would show there was undue influence or pressure exerted on the petitioner.”
“That there are several cases between petitioner and oppositors does not, to the court’s mind, show undue influence or pressure made upon petitioner. The other testimonies of oppositors’ witnesses also did not show any how any undue influence or pressure was exerted on the petitioner.”
Olivia, the court said, 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.”
The Yanson family, which owns the Yanson Group of Bus Company (YGBC), has been engaged in a tumultous feud since their patriach, Ricardo, died in October 2015.
The four disinherited children flew abroad after they failed to take control of YGBC that operates an estimated 4,000 buses around the country through its seven subsidiaries.IMT
