Photokina denies allegations

Photokina vice president Eric Naru denied all the allegations raised by retired Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairwoman Harriet Demetriou against the private company.

In a phone interview with The STAR, Naru denied that the contract between the government and Photokina was "onerous," or that former actress Guia Gomez was part owner of the firm.

Demetriou has charged that the contract between the Comelec and Photokina is "onerous and grossly disadvantageous" to the poll body and the government.

Naru said Demetriou was apparently referring to the first draft of the contract which came out around Dec. 5 last year.

He said the first draft had undergone five or six revisions which Demetriou may not have seen yet.

The amendments, Naru said, were made to comply with the points raised by the Comelec during their other meetings. He added that there should be a distinction between "questions on the contract document" as against the "awarding of the project to Photokina."

Naru denied that the contract was simply awarded to Photokina without proper bidding.

"Everything was opened. Photokina had P6.5 billion. The two other bidders, Stradec (Strategies Alliance Development Corp.) and Ultimate Data Systems, had a higher bid of around P7.2 billion," he said.

"In fact, the Comelec en banc, including Demetriou, unanimously affixed their signatures on Resolution nos. 3252 and 3261 which were the Notice of Awards for the VRIS project to our company, after we won the bidding for the same."

He also countered earlier allegations that there were no witnesses in the opening of technical and financial bids. "All the representatives of the three bidders were present," he said.

"From then on, the contract negotiation went on," he added.

On Gomez, Naru said her name was dragged into the controversy since she is known by the owners of Photokina, which distributes film to the movie industry and photo companies.

"But she was never part of the company. She was not an owner, not a stock holder, nor a broker of the company," Naru said, adding Photokina is owned by the family of George Chua.

He also refused to comment on the charges of Demetriou until after they are filed in the proper court. — Sandy Araneta