Senate tribunal: No politics in decision on Poe's case

MANILA, Philippines - Members of the Senate electoral tribunal (SET) on Tuesday assured that there would be no politics involved in ruling the disqualification case against Sen. Grace Poe.

The SET is comprised of its chairperson, Justice Antonio Carpio, Supreme Court Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-De Castro and Arturo Brion, Sens. Loren Legarda, Vicente "Tito" Sotto III, Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV, Pia Cayetano, Cynthia Villar and Nancy Binay.

Legarda and Sotto are members of the Nationalist People's Coalition, or NPC, which has expressed its support for Poe in the 2016 national elections.

Meanwhile, Aquino said in an interview aired on ABS-CBN that politics would not play a role when they decide on the case against Poe.

"If that's the perspective, all of us have issues because I'm with the Liberal Party, si Sen. Binay is with [United Nationalist Alliance] and we have other candidates... So if that's the logic, I think all of the senators will have a conflict of interest," Aquino said.

Aquino assured that the SET would be objective in deciding on the disqualification case filed against Poe, who currently tops the latest vice presidential and presidential preference polls.

"May kakayahan naman kami to be able to decide not based on partisanship or not based on the elections but really to use our mandate as senators to be able to decide rightly, justly and fairly," Aquino added.

Sotto earlier said that the SET would decide based on the merits of the case.

The members of the SET would serve as "judges" who will weigh the evidence on the petition filed against Poe.

Losing senatorial candidate Rizalito David filed the disqualification case against Poe, questioning her nationality and residency status.

David on Tuesday filed a motion before the Senate tribunal to subpoena the citizenship documents of Poe.

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