3 SC justices in SET refuse to inhibit selves

INQUIRER PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

IS IT a sign that they will not excuse themselves from the case?

Despite a plea for their inhibition from the case, three Supreme Court justices, who had dissented from the Senate Electoral Tribunal’s (SET) ruling upholding the natural-born citizenship of Sen. Grace Poe, continued to participate in proceedings on petitions that she had filed against her disqualification.

Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Arturo Brion—members of the SET who dissented from the majority ruling in favor of Poe—Tuesday voted against the temporary restraining orders (TROs) that Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno issued on Dec. 28 to stop the presidential candidate’s disqualification.

The rest of the 15-member high court voted to affirm the TROs, which were issued within the same day that Poe filed her pleas challenging the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) resolutions against her candidacy.

The TROs issued in Poe’s favor would remain effective “until further orders” from the court.

The three justices took the action pending Poe’s separate petition for them to inhibit themselves from the cases.

Asked if this should be taken as the justices’ decision against Poe’s inhibition plea, Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te did not give a categorical answer.

“Let’s just wait,” he said when first asked in a press conference Tuesday.