SET upholds ruling in favor of Poe
The Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) upheld on Thursday its decision to junk the disqualification case against Senator Grace Poe.
“Same voting, denied,” Sen Vicente Sotto III said in a text message to reporters.
READ: Poe lawyer: SET ruling ‘extinguishes’ Comelec case vs Grace | Villar doubts SET decision on Poe would be reversed
In its resolution, with a vote of 5-4, the SET said presidential aspirant Rizalito David failed to present new evidence to warrant a reversal of their earlier ruling.
“Indeed, aside from inscribing unfounded and baseless, improper motives to the Senator-members who composed the majority and citing some opinion columns and tabloid reports that carry no evidentiary weight whatsoever, Petitioner utterly failed to present any new issue or arguments that would warrant a reversal of the 17 November 2015 Decision of the Tribunal,” the resolution signed by Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice and SET chair Antonio Carpio stated.
Meanwhile, Atty. Irene Guevarra, SET spokesperson, said the justices members of the SET have to inhibit once the case is filed at the Supreme Court “as a requirement of due process.”
Aside from Carpio, other Justices who are members of SET are Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Arturo Brion.
The SET earlier voted 5-4 against the case filed by presidential wannabe Rizalito David seeking to unseat Poe from the Senate over her citizenship.
The five members who voted against the case were Senators Sotto, Loren Legarda, Cynthia Villar, Pia Cayetano, and Bam Aquino.
The four who voted to disqualify Poe were Carpio, Leonardo-de Castro and Brion and Senator Nancy Binay. CDG
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