Comelec confident of answering poll automation complaints

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday expressed confidence that the agency could sufficiently answer the complaints against the recently signed poll automation contract.

Comelec legal department director Ferdinand Rafanan said the Concerned Citizens’ Movement (CCM) should have not filed a case before the Supreme Court and the group should have just asked poll officials about the contract. 

“Those are simple questions of facts. They (CCM) could have easily verified it so they would not be in error. The factual allegations in the complaint is very very erroneous,” Rafanan said.

Rafanan, who also heads the Comelec’s Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC), said that the poll body had studied the CCM complaint.

He, however, pointed out that the issues raised by the CCM were simple “questions of facts” that would have been easily been addressed by the commission.

“If they asked us we could have given them a copy,” said Rafanan, referring to the joint venture (JV) agreement between the Netherlands-based Smartmatic Corp. and their Filipino partner Total Information Management Inc. prior to their incorporation.

The JV agreement is one of the primary questions raised by CCM in their petition before the SC last week saying the two firms should have avoided having a rift if they had a “valid” pact.

The Comelec explained that the two firms have a JV agreement but their incorporation before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as one company was not required until they have manage to bag the contract.

Another issue raised by the CCM was that there was no pilot testing done by the commission as required by the Poll Automation Law or republic Act 9369 in at least two provinces each in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Rafanan said the pilot testing was required in the immediate elections after the effectivity of the March 2007 law.

“The elections immediately after the law’s effectivity? It was May 2007. That’s the law that mandates the pilot testing. In that same provision, in subsequent election, the automated election system shall be nationwide. For May 2010,” he explained.

The CCM filed a case before the SC last Thursday, calling for the stoppage of the automation project.

In the absence of a temporary restraining order (TRO), the commission decided to proceed with the contract signing with Comelec Chairman Jose Melo saying it had to be done last Friday since they are following a certain timeline for the 2010 polls.

The commission has not discounted that other groups may still move to stop the project but Melo expressed confidence they can manage to overcome such hurdles citing the transparency of the whole project as one reason.