SET decision on case vs Poe out after deadline for filing of CoC

Senator Grace Poe. FILE PHOTO

The Senate  Electoral Tribunal  (SET), hearing the disqualification case filed against  Senator Grace Poe,  has agreed to come  up with  a decision on November  5,  a member-senator  said  on Friday.

“November 5 was the last agreement in the tribunal,” Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said in a text message when sought to react to Senator President Franklin Drilon’s repeated call for the tribunal to immediately resolve the case.

Drilon expressed hopes that the tribunal would be able to come up with a decision before the filing of certificates of candidacy (CoC) on October   12 and 16.

READ: Drilon presses SET on Poe

Meanwhile, Poe’s camp has no plans to call for a change in the composition of the SET despite questions raised against its chairman, Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio.

1BAP Representative Silvestre Bello III, a former justice secretary, earlier said that  Carpio should inhibit himself from the case because of his association with a lawyer of  the administration’s bet, former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II.

READ: Carpio ties to Roxas through the Firm hit

Asked if the senator would initiate such move against Carpio, Poe’s lawyer, George Garcia, answered  in the negative.

“Wala po (There is none). We will not inhibit anybody,” Garcia said in a text message. “We believe in the integrity and independence of the tribunal as well as the fairness and justness of its members.”

Sotto also saw no need for any members of the SET to inhibit from the proceeding, saying that “links with candidates cannot be avoided.”

“It’s how you conduct yourself, that’s important,” he said. Maila Ager/IDL