Public outcry

In his recent State of the Nation Address, President Marcos highlighted that the government services are becoming more efficient.

He noted that conscious efforts to improve the ease of doing business and deliver government services through digitalization, integration and streamlining of processes have produced their intended multiplier effects. He added that cost savings from operations have translated into higher revenues and faster transactions.

These, he said, have effectively addressed the fragmented, overlapping and time-consuming procedures that had hindered optimal productivity in government.

Due to shortened timelines, the President announced a significant increase in new business and corporate registrations, including foreign firms, which surpassed last year’s numbers.

He also stressed that with the newly enacted Republic Act No. 12009, government procurement will be modern and innovative, more streamlined and efficient and at par with global best practices.

The President also mentioned the improved peace and order situation, good governance, an increased drug conviction rate, a reduction in the number of drug-affected barangays by 32 percent, a significant drop in the poverty rate, the promotion of investment-led growth by setting into motion policies and programs to create an environment conducive for businesses to thrive, efficient tax and non-tax revenue collection and the banning of POGOs by year-end, among others.

Notably absent from his speech, however, are the inroads, if any, that the present administration has achieved in the area of reducing graft and corruption in the government.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a paper, noted that throughout the world, bureaucrats and people in authority are indefatigably maneuvering to position themselves in a tiny monopoly where they can be bribed for issuing a license, approving an expenditure or allowing a shipment across a border. 

“Studies have shown that these rent-seeking activities exact a heavy economic and social toll. Empirical evidence suggests that corruption lowers investment and retards economic growth to a significant extent,” it said.

The allocation of public procurement contracts through a corrupt system, for one, may lead to lower quality infrastructure and public services. Corruption, the IMF emphasized, may tempt government officials to choose government expenditures less on the basis of public welfare and more on the opportunity they provide for extorting bribes.

A statement from the President that graft and corrupt practices will not be tolerated under his watch is badly needed, especially in the wake of serious accusations being made against the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

With just under nine months to go until the 2025 midterm elections, controversies continue to surface regarding the P17.9- billion poll automation contract awarded by the Comelec to the Miru Systems JV.

Former Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice, who earlier filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking to enjoin Comelec from awarding the contract to the South Korean firm, has this time filed an anti-graft and corruption complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman against Comelec chairman George Garcia and several other officials who were part of the special bids and awards committee for automated election systems.

Garcia has denied the allegations of graft and corruption and has said that he is initiating steps to disprove such allegations to protect Comelec’s integrity.

Erice’s complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman revolves around the alleged disadvantageous contract that Comelec entered into with Miru for the lease of vote-counting machines (VCMs). Despite possessing functional VCMs used successfully in the 2022 elections, which were covered under a warranty agreement ensuring free replacements, he said that Comelec chose to lease new VCMs, resulting in unnecessary expenditure.

The Supreme Court earlier reversed a Comelec resolution disqualifying Smartmatic from participating in the public biddings for elections. The Comelec special bids and awards committee did not allow Smartmatic to participate in the public bidding for the 2025 automated election system (AES) and then proceeded to conduct the bidding that resulted in the award of the contract to Miru.

Erice said Comelec’s decision raises questions about the conduct and priorities of the officials involved.

He explained that he lodged the complaint to compel Garcia and the other Comelec officials to explain the alleged corruption and to defend the contract that is worth billions of pesos.

Last July, Erice filed another petition before the Supreme Court for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, alleging that the machine submitted by Miru and contracted by Comelec was not a proven voting machine but rather a prototype. This revelation raised alarms over potential violations of RA 9369, the Election Automation Law, which defines an automated election system (AES) as one that encompasses proven technology verified through actual usage in various stages of the election process.

The law provides that the AES is “a system using appropriate technology which has been demonstrated in the voting, counting, consolidating, canvassing and transmission of election results and other electoral processes.” Therefore, a prototype should not have been allowed by Comelec.

Smartmatic offered the use of its existing VCMs in next year’s polls, which would have saved the country billions of pesos. 

The 93,977 VCMs leased to Comelec in 2015 and their accompanying election management system are still covered by a warranty extending to three subsequent national and local elections after the 2016 elections under the Smartmatic and Comelec contract.

The essence of democratic governance lies in the trust that the public places in its electoral institutions.

As citizens, it is our duty to remain vigilant and demand integrity and fairness from those entrusted with upholding the sanctity of our democratic processes, if only to ensure that future elections truly reflect the will of the people.

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