When the pie isn't properly sliced

"Everybody is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else."
--David Foster Wallace

By Alex P. Vidal
IN other mega corporate ventures in the country managed by one clan that involves a public interest, we seldom heard--or none, at all--of an intra-family feud that threatens to paralyze the company's operations like what is happening in the Vallacar Transit, Inc. in the transportation sector.
Several years back, Iloilo City's Florete brothers also went tongs and hammer in their legal squabble over some issues in their properties, which also nearly threatened to break-up the family.
Like in the case of the Yansons, the public was startled that members of a prominent business clan that owns one of the biggest radio networks in the country, were at loggerheads and in the newspaper headlines for several months.
If the Yansons have Roy and Leo Rey, the Floretes had Marcelino and Rogelio.
The feud between the Florete siblings, however, was not as tension-filled as compared to the tumult that erupted in the Yanson family, where several employees and security personnel in the Ceres terminals had been disarmed and frightened during the territorial tug-of-war.

-o0o-

When serious internal insurrections explode within the family-run corporation, it means only one thing: everybody isn't happy, or the pie wasn't properly sliced.
In all these wranglings and hullabaloos, however, it's always the court that has the final say, no matter how one party will attempt to resort to any extra-judicial alternative, or show of force and intimidation.
Meanwhile, despite managing the Panay Electric Company (PECO) in Iloilo City for nearly a century, the Cacho family never quarreled in public; all their corporate issues are tackled privately and peacefully.
Unlike the Yansons in the Vallacar Transit, Inc., the Cachos never washed PECO's dirty linens in public.
If the Cashos were in the news, it's because they worked side-by-side against the rantings and agitations of the consumers who went ballistic against the "astronomical" charges in their monthly bills.

-o0o-

Also, we never heard the Lopezes tearing each other apart over corporate issues while managing the Meralco and ABS-CBN, among other family-owned public utilities.
What we heard and learned in the news was the smooth transition of management of their major prime properties from one family patriarch to another.
Ditto with the Gatchalians of the Cebu Pacific, the Sys of the Prime Holdings (that operates SM City), the Ayalas of the Ayala Center, the Gokongweis of the Robinsons and Universal Robina Corporation, among other big families engaged in mega businesses.
Bad management normally causes most of the organizational problems. Over and over, according to Ligthouse, it's their actions (or inaction) of managers that combine to be the hidden, root cause of these major, valid concerns.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Bus venture’s snafu is everybody’s business

“Since most corporate competitors have the same problems with sustainability and social reputation, it's worth trying to solve them together.”
--Simon Mainwaring

By Alex P. Vidal

WE don’t agree that the corporate feud among the siblings that operate the Philippines’ biggest bus venture “is none of the people’s business.”
It may be true in as far as the corporate territory is concerned, but not in as far as public interest is concerned.
The Yanson family-controlled Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI), Bachelor Express Inc., Rural Transit Mindanao Inc., Sugbo Transit Express Inc. and Mindanao Star Business Transit Inc. may be a private enterprise, but their clients, the customers are the riding public.
The nature of the transportation business can not detach the company from its inherent social responsibility and accountability.
Since the aforementioned bus companies operate through a franchise issued by the government to serve the public commuters, public interest is very much involved, vital and necessary.
So much so that if the bus operations will be hampered and cause prejudice to the riding public as a result of any mismanagement or internal wrangling in the venture, the government is empowered by law to take over the company’s operations.

-o0o-

Thus the people have the right to know what’s going on and how are the corporate board and officers handle and resolve the snafu.
Lawyer Sheila Sison, who represents Roy Yanson’s group (that wrested control of the company from Roy’s younger brother Leo Rey after a boardroom mutiny on July 7, 2019), meanwhile, has assured the public: “Despite this revamp, the board assures the public, its employees, and all its stakeholders that the company remains committed to serve the riding public. Company policies and programs will remain the same, and its transport services will continue to be fully operational.”
Leo Rey, on the other hand, has “condemned the act of the de facto President, Roy Yanson in bringing in armed men inside company premises, sowing unnecessary fear amongst the employees. The act of the de facto President will surely hamper the operations of the company and spread confusion among the employee.”
Based on these contrasting pronouncements, the tumult may still be far from over.
In the name of public interest, we shall continue to monitor whether the contending parties can hack out a win-win solution or one party will decide to throw the white flag in favor of the other party.

-o0o-

According to spiritual book author Max Lucado, worry happens when we keep our problems to ourselves or present our problems to the puny deities of money, muscle, or humankind.
“The act of prayers moves us from a spirit of concern to a spirit of gratitude,” he explains. “Even before our prayers are answered, our hearts begin to change.”
Lucado suggests that we take these steps:
-take your worries to God;
-find a promise to much your problem; and
-pray specifically.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)