Kapunan hits GenCorp silence on VP Sara SALN declarations

Private prosecutor Atty. Lorna Kapunan on Wednesday challenged the seeming lack of action from GenCorp Industries Incorporated when it comes to the declaration of Vice President Sara Duterte of her supposed interest in the company despite company records showing otherwise.

During her cross-examination of defense witness Atty. Suzette Balucanag-Punay, Kapunan questioned whether GenCorp had made any initiatives in order to dispute and disprove the declarations of the Vice President.

The veteran litigator argued that Balucanag-Punay, who serves as a corporate counsel for the company, had the responsibility of informing the company with regards to such matters particularly, pointing out that she had managed to hear about the declaration from the impeachment.

“Isn’t it your duty as internal counsel of GenCorp to call their attention to the fact that ‘Hey, the Vice President listed herself as a shareholder of our company?’ Did you not bring that to the attention of GenCorp?” Kapunan asked.

“You said that it is part of your functions as internal counsel to look at records, to give legal advice,” she added.

Balucanag-Punay, for her part, answered in the negative as she expressed belief that ti was not necessarily her role to monitor and disclose such developments.

“I believe that my function as counsel of GenCorp, your Honor, does not involve looking at other people’s SALN and adjusting our records just because somebody declared that he is a stockholder of our corporation,” the witness clarified.

Insisting the importance of the issue, Kapunan emphasized that Duterte was not a mere “somebody” given that she was serving as the Vice President of the country.

She stressed that since Balucanag-Punay was the sole in-house lawyer of GenCorp, that it was in fact her duty to bring such misrepresentations from public officers to the attention of the company.

Seemingly retracting her earlier statement, the witness answered, “Yes, your Honor.”

Further dwelling into the matter, Kapunan pointed out Section 11 of the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability, which states that lawyers were prohibited from making “false representations” and that individuals shall be liable for “any material damage” caused by the same.

The lawyer that Kapunan was referring to, in such regard, was the Vice President which she noted, from the answer of the witness, was not a shareholder of GenCorp based on the company’s General Information Sheet (GIS).

The private prosecutor then proceeded to confront the witness with the fact that Duterte had in fact declared GenCorp in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), questioning whether the corporate counsel could state why there was such declaration.

Balucanag-Punay maintained that she would not be able to answer on behalf of the Vice President and that the prosecutors would be better off asking the said question to the respondent.

Aside from challenging the lack of action on the part of the corporate counsel, Kapunan then shifted her inquiries with respect to the company itself, and whether there were any statements that were released controverting the Duterte’s supposed shareholdings.

The witness explained that there was “no such statement” and that she was similarly unaware why there were no remarks from the company on the matter.

The particular issue that Kapunan was looking into was with regard to the prosecution presenting discrepancies when it came to the GIS of GenCorp and Duterte’s SALNs from 2024 and 2025.

Balucanag-Punay had verified during the said proceedings that the name of the Vice President did not appear in the company’s records and that she did not receive any dividends since she assumed her position in 2022.