GenCorp lawyer skips impeachment hearing today

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense team yesterday confirmed that one of their witnesses, GenCorp Industries Inc. corporate counsel Suzette Balucanag-Punay would be unable to attend the impeachment hearing today.

“We confirm that Atty. Suzette Balucanag-Punay informed us that she will be unable to attend tomorrow’s hearing due to a previously scheduled MRI (magnetic resonance imaging),” defense spokesman Michael Poa said in a message to The STAR yesterday.

However, he clarified that the witness would only be absent today. She has been scheduled to appear before the impeachment court from Nov. 9-13.

The impeachment trial is scheduled to resume today, with the defense team’s turn to present its witnesses and evidence.

Poa said the defense team recognizes “that her (Punay) health and well-being must take priority,” and that they have already “promptly filed the necessary manifestation before the (Senate) impeachment court.”

In her statement of assets, liability and net worth from 2016 to 2025, Duterte listed herself as an incorporator or stockholder of GenCorp Industries.

However, her name reportedly did not appear as an incorporator or stockholder of GenCorp in its Articles of Incorporation and General Information Sheets submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission from 2020 to 2025.

Earlier, political and constitutional law professor Ralph Sarmiento begged off to appear as the first witness of the defense, saying he wanted to keep his views and opinions independent.

Prosecution scores defense witness list

Meanwhile, the prosecution panel criticized some of the names in the defense’s witness list for having nothing to do with the alleged unexplained wealth of the Vice President.

“For example, a Quezon City prosecutor (Vimar Barcellano) was named as one of the witnesses, but there was no indication at all with regard to the purpose on why is he being called,” private prosecutor Benjamin Tolosa Jr. said during a weekly news forum in Quezon City over the weekend.

“And there was also another witness from the banks. But there was no explanation at all on why his testimony is important,” he noted.

The Duterte camp initially submitted a list of 25 intended witnesses for the impeachment trial. — Delon Porcalla