Poe to remain impartial in new Mamasapano probe–spokesperson

Amid talks that the opening of the Senate probe on the Mamasapano incident will be politicized, a spokesperson for Sen. Grace Poe says she will remain impartial on the issue.

“Senator Poe has shown her impartiality in the past Mamasapano hearings and she will continue to do so in the upcoming hearings,” Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian said in a statement on Saturday.

READ: Poe: Senate to reopen Mamasapano probe on operation’s 1st anniversary

Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public order, on Jan. 5 said the Senate would reopen the investigation on Jan. 25, exactly a year after the operation that killed more than 60 people, including 44 members of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force.

Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile earlier asked the Senate committee handling the investigation to reopen the probe for “possibly new evidence.”

READ: Enrile info prompts new Mamasapano inquiry

While Poe’s camp respected the decision of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano to inhibit from the investigation, Gatchalian said inhibition was a “voluntary decision.”

But Gatchalian said Poe would abide by the “collective wisdom” of the Senate regarding inhibition from the probe.

“I am sure she will abide by it,” he said.

“Knowing Sen. Grace, she will have no problem inhibiting but she cannot relinquish duties to her cochair as well because he is also a candidate,” he added.

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