Comelec urged to abort plan on PCOS machines deal

MANILA, Philippines - A former commissioner of the CommissiononElections(Com- elec) has urged the poll body to abort its plan for a negotiated deal with Smartmatic to refur- bish the more than 80,000 pre- cinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines that will be re-use in the 2016 polls.

“”It should be bidded out. They have to be transparent,” said Gregorio Larrazabal who was the commissioner-in-charge of the country’s first automat- ed polls in 2010.

The Comelec will discuss this week the possibility of extend- ing the warranty agreement with Smartmatic for the repair and upgrade of the PCOS machines which was bought by the poll body from Smartmatic in 2012.

Larrazabal noted that Smart- matic was not in a position to offer a warranty.

“Smartmatic is not the one who manufactured the ma- chines. If they are not the manu- facturers how can they warranty the machines that they did not produce?”

Lardizabal said it would be more beneficial for the govern- ment if it would conduct a public bidding and invite the Taiwan-based manufacturer of the machines.

Meanwhile, theComelechas questioned the petition filed by former Immigration Commission- er and Assemblyman Homobono Adaza with the Supreme Court, seeking to stop the public bidding for the 2016 automated polls.

Comelec Commissioner Lu- cenito Tagle said they could not understand why Adaza wanted the bidding suspended until issues against Smartmatic as a service provider in 2010 had been resolved.

“The issue that have been raised against Smartmatic have already been resolved at the Supreme Court . They (critics) cannot substantiate it (their al- legation) with concrete proof,” he added.