Mega Pacific ordered to return money for botched poll modernization

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is asking Mega Pacific e-Solutions Inc. (MPEI) to reimburse the P1.05 billion the Commission on Elections (Comelec) paid for the aborted poll automation project and the expenses incurred for the storage of the automated counting machines (ACMs) since 2003.

The OSG said the consortium should also be made to pay P10 million in exemplary damages as well as litigation and other expenses that would be incurred during the trial.

Named by the OSG as respondents in the case were MPEI’s individual incorporators — Willy Yu, Bonnie Yu, Enrique Tansipek, Rosita Tansipek, Pedro Tan, Johnson Fong, Bernard Fong and Lauriano Barrios.

The OSG explained that individual incorporators should be impleaded in the case because the MPEI "is a mere shell corporation with no real assets in its name and was incorporated only to feign eligibility for the bidding of automated contract."

According to the OSG, MPEI’s individual incorporators were entrepreneurs who regularly transacted with the Comelec for the supply of election materials and services but the company itself was non-existent at the time the Comelec’s invitation to bid was published. It was formed only 11 days before the public bidding of the project.

"Considering that, as found by the Supreme Court, there is absolutely no proof of the existence of the Mega Pacific Consortium and that plaintiff MPEI is the awardee of the nullified automation contract, it stands to reason that MPEI should be made to return all the payments made to it (by the Comelec)," the OSG said.

The SC gave the OSG authority to run after the officials of the MPEI after the tribunal nullified its contract with the Comelec last Jan. 13. But the MPEI, through its lawyer Alfredo Lazaro, said the consortium was not inclined to give back the money since the machines were already tailor-made for the Comelec and that expenses were incurred in delivering them.

Lazaro said it was not the fault of the MPEI that the contract was declared void since it never had any participation in the determination of the winning bidder.

The contract between MPEI and the Comelec for the poll automation project was voided by the SC last Jan. 13 for being violative of the laws on public bidding.

The Court said the contract was riddled with technical flaws that could lead to massive cheating and several other problems during the elections. It also said that while the country needs to have a modernized election system, it should not compromise the reliability of the machines in order to protect the sanctity of the votes.

The Court’s strongly-worded decision also recommended the filing of charges against those behind the anomalous deal and ordered the Comelec and the OSG to find ways to recover the taxpayer’s money paid to the consortium.

According to the OSG, the Comelec is incurring additional expenses amounting to P15 million annually for the lease of Maxilite Warehouse where the ACMs and their accessories are being stored.

Other government expenses that were incurred for the maintenance and preservation of the ACMs and their accessories that will be proven during trial should also be paid for by the MPEI, the OSG insisted.

To deter other persons and organizations from entering into a similar unlawful contract, agreement or undertaking with the government, the consortium and its officials should be made to pay for the damages.