MANILA, Philippines - Poll watchdogs will turn to the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from giving the contract to refurbish the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corp.
In an interview yesterday, Hermenegildo Estrella, co-convenor of the Citizens for Clean and Credible Elections (C3E), said they are preparing to file a petition before the SC to keep Smartmatic-TIM away from the 2016 polls.
“We will first file a petition with the Comelec to avoid technicality. We’ll exhaust all possible means. But since Comelec will not listen to us, we know we’ll end up at the Supreme Court,” he said.
Estrella reiterated that Comelec should have only leased, and not bought, the PCOS machines from Smartmatic since they are obsolete.
Aside from this, the machines have deteriorated, thus compromising the integrity of the country’s elections.
“It was best to scrap the machines but Comelec did not listen to us. Now, they are tapping Smartmatic to refurbish the machines. It’s like Smartmatic is holding us (by the neck),” he said.
Estrella said until now, Comelec and Smartmatic have not answered the various concerns raised against the PCOS machines in the 2010 and 2013 elections. These include those on ownership of the software, legal personality, digital signatures and digital lines.
Voting 5-2, the Comelec had decided to tap Smartmatic-TIM to refurbish more than 80,000 PCOS machines for P1.2 billion despite various calls to blacklist the Netherlands-based firm from participating in the 2016 polls.
According to Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Consortium for Electoral Reform, the Comelec should have subjected the project to a public bidding.
“Of course the Comelec can defend its decision since there are provisions in the law that allows negotiated contract, like in case of an emergency. But it would have been best if there is a public bidding,” he said in a separate interview.
For its part, Smartmatic president for Asia-Pacific Cesar Flores hailed the Comelec’s decision “to exercise their right to use the original and rightful manufacturer of the PCOS machines to extend the warranty for the said equipment.”
“As we have always maintained, Smartmatic, as the manufacturers of the PCOS machines and the only source of original spare parts, is the only capable entity in ensuring these proven and tested machines are in tiptop shape for the next elections. We assure everyone that this will be done,” he said.
Flores added that Smartmatic technologies and services are “currently deployed in more than 50 percent of all countries that use electronic voting machines for their national elections.”
“This speaks of the high quality and reliability of the solutions we offer. This is the same level of quality and reliability that will go into the extended warranty and refurbishment of the PCOS machines,” he said.