Array
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                    [ArticleID] => 375743
                    [Title] => MegaPacific offers to sell ACMs for ’07 polls
                    [Summary] => 



With the use of the controversial automated counting machines definitely ruled out, the MegaPacific consortium is now offering to provide a similar technology for the coming 2007 midterm elections.


Commission on Elections (Comelec) Education and Information Division director James Jimenez said MegaPacific eSolutions was among five firms that presented its technology. 


They were presented before the advisory council that was tasked to assess which machines could be used in next year’s polls.


                    [DatePublished] => 2006-12-19 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1097338
                    [AuthorName] =>  Mayen Jaymalin
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [1] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 366793
                    [Title] => Palace insists civil case against MegaPacific stands despite SC order
                    [Summary] => 




Malacañang said yesterday its civil case against MegaPacific, the firm that entered into the voided poll automation contract with the Commission on Elections (Comelec), still stands.


Solicitor General Antonio Nachura said the government’s effort to recover P1.3 billion paid to MegaPacific is a separate case from the Supreme Court’s (SC) order to Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to investigate any criminal liability of the Comelec officials in approving the contract.


                    [DatePublished] => 2006-11-03 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1805432
                    [AuthorName] => Paolo Romero
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [2] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 363422
                    [Title] => ACM critics linked to losing bidders
                    [Summary] => 



Two staunch critics of the purchase by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) of nearly 2,000 automated counting machines (ACMs) from the MegaPacific Consortium had ties to the company that lost in the bidding for the machines, a lawyer for the consortium said yesterday.


Lawyer Estrella Elamparo, who represents MegaPacific, took aim at former Comelec chairman Christian Monsod and Augusto Lagman, president of the Information Technology Foundation of the Philippines, which questioned the Comelec’s awarding of the contract to MegaPacific in 2003.


                    [DatePublished] => 2006-10-17 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1735838
                    [AuthorName] => Sandy Araneta
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [3] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 345308
                    [Title] => Borra laments being scapegoat in MegaPacific case
                    [Summary] => Commission on Elections Commissioner Resureccion Borra claims he was a "victim of circumstance" and believes he is being "singled out" for impeachment over alleged anomalies in the Comelec’s 2003 purchase of ballot counting machines.


Breaking his silence yesterday on the Office of the Ombudsman’s findings against him, Borra said the Comelec’s contract with the machines’ supplier, MegaPacific eSolutions Inc., was a collegial body’s decision.


                    [DatePublished] => 2006-07-04 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1371238
                    [AuthorName] => James Mananghaya
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [4] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 344968
                    [Title] => Palace hopes for early Borra case resolution
                    [Summary] => Malacañang is hoping for a speedy resolution to the poll automation anomaly case involving election commissioner Resurreccion Borra and five other Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials.
                    [DatePublished] => 2006-07-02 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1805432
                    [AuthorName] => Paolo Romero
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [5] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 344786
                    [Title] => Borra, five other Comelec execs liable in ‘Mega’ deal
                    [Summary] => The Office of the Ombudsman recommended yesterday the impeachment of a ranking official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for alleged anomalies in the awarding of a contract to a private company in line with government’s efforts to modernize the country’s antiquated electoral system.
                    [DatePublished] => 2006-07-01 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1097368
                    [AuthorName] =>  Mike Frialde
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [6] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 204043
                    [Title] => Can Comelec counting machines really count?
                    [Summary] => Benjamin Abalos is a cautious chief of the Commission on Elections. When he couldn’t get at once the needed P1 billion to prepare for next year’s absentee voting, he said he’ll just drop it. He got congressmen and senators so scared of a backlash from seven million overseas workers that they gave him the money in a flash. Before the recent bidding for poll automation, he told prospective suppliers he wants only the best at the least cost. "There will be no experimenting," he warned, "Comelec cannot risk a revolution because of a wrong choice."


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-04-28 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 134276
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1805283
                    [AuthorName] => Jarius Bondoc
                    [SectionName] => Opinion
                    [SectionUrl] => opinion
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [7] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 203900
                    [Title] => Half-baked automation: Recipe for poll disaster?
                    [Summary] => THE FIRST NO-EL?: Is the Commission on Elections helping, perhaps unwittingly, to lay the basis for NoEl (No Election), or at least to set the stage for a failure of election in 2004?


The Comelec has confessed its inability, mainly for lack of funds, to carry out the mandate for it to manage starting in 2004 the absentee voting by millions of eligible Filipinos residing abroad.


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-04-27 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 136322
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1804858
                    [AuthorName] => Federico D. Pascual Jr.
                    [SectionName] => Opinion
                    [SectionUrl] => opinion
                    [URL] => 
                )

        )

)

MEGAPACIFIC

Array
(
    [results] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 375743
                    [Title] => MegaPacific offers to sell ACMs for ’07 polls
                    [Summary] => 



With the use of the controversial automated counting machines definitely ruled out, the MegaPacific consortium is now offering to provide a similar technology for the coming 2007 midterm elections.


Commission on Elections (Comelec) Education and Information Division director James Jimenez said MegaPacific eSolutions was among five firms that presented its technology. 


They were presented before the advisory council that was tasked to assess which machines could be used in next year’s polls.


                    [DatePublished] => 2006-12-19 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1097338
                    [AuthorName] =>  Mayen Jaymalin
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [1] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 366793
                    [Title] => Palace insists civil case against MegaPacific stands despite SC order
                    [Summary] => 




Malacañang said yesterday its civil case against MegaPacific, the firm that entered into the voided poll automation contract with the Commission on Elections (Comelec), still stands.


Solicitor General Antonio Nachura said the government’s effort to recover P1.3 billion paid to MegaPacific is a separate case from the Supreme Court’s (SC) order to Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to investigate any criminal liability of the Comelec officials in approving the contract.


                    [DatePublished] => 2006-11-03 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1805432
                    [AuthorName] => Paolo Romero
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [2] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 363422
                    [Title] => ACM critics linked to losing bidders
                    [Summary] => 



Two staunch critics of the purchase by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) of nearly 2,000 automated counting machines (ACMs) from the MegaPacific Consortium had ties to the company that lost in the bidding for the machines, a lawyer for the consortium said yesterday.


Lawyer Estrella Elamparo, who represents MegaPacific, took aim at former Comelec chairman Christian Monsod and Augusto Lagman, president of the Information Technology Foundation of the Philippines, which questioned the Comelec’s awarding of the contract to MegaPacific in 2003.


                    [DatePublished] => 2006-10-17 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1735838
                    [AuthorName] => Sandy Araneta
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [3] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 345308
                    [Title] => Borra laments being scapegoat in MegaPacific case
                    [Summary] => Commission on Elections Commissioner Resureccion Borra claims he was a "victim of circumstance" and believes he is being "singled out" for impeachment over alleged anomalies in the Comelec’s 2003 purchase of ballot counting machines.


Breaking his silence yesterday on the Office of the Ombudsman’s findings against him, Borra said the Comelec’s contract with the machines’ supplier, MegaPacific eSolutions Inc., was a collegial body’s decision.


                    [DatePublished] => 2006-07-04 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1371238
                    [AuthorName] => James Mananghaya
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [4] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 344968
                    [Title] => Palace hopes for early Borra case resolution
                    [Summary] => Malacañang is hoping for a speedy resolution to the poll automation anomaly case involving election commissioner Resurreccion Borra and five other Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials.
                    [DatePublished] => 2006-07-02 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1805432
                    [AuthorName] => Paolo Romero
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [5] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 344786
                    [Title] => Borra, five other Comelec execs liable in ‘Mega’ deal
                    [Summary] => The Office of the Ombudsman recommended yesterday the impeachment of a ranking official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for alleged anomalies in the awarding of a contract to a private company in line with government’s efforts to modernize the country’s antiquated electoral system.
                    [DatePublished] => 2006-07-01 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 133272
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1097368
                    [AuthorName] =>  Mike Frialde
                    [SectionName] => Headlines
                    [SectionUrl] => headlines
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [6] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 204043
                    [Title] => Can Comelec counting machines really count?
                    [Summary] => Benjamin Abalos is a cautious chief of the Commission on Elections. When he couldn’t get at once the needed P1 billion to prepare for next year’s absentee voting, he said he’ll just drop it. He got congressmen and senators so scared of a backlash from seven million overseas workers that they gave him the money in a flash. Before the recent bidding for poll automation, he told prospective suppliers he wants only the best at the least cost. "There will be no experimenting," he warned, "Comelec cannot risk a revolution because of a wrong choice."


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-04-28 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 134276
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1805283
                    [AuthorName] => Jarius Bondoc
                    [SectionName] => Opinion
                    [SectionUrl] => opinion
                    [URL] => 
                )

            [7] => Array
                (
                    [ArticleID] => 203900
                    [Title] => Half-baked automation: Recipe for poll disaster?
                    [Summary] => THE FIRST NO-EL?: Is the Commission on Elections helping, perhaps unwittingly, to lay the basis for NoEl (No Election), or at least to set the stage for a failure of election in 2004?


The Comelec has confessed its inability, mainly for lack of funds, to carry out the mandate for it to manage starting in 2004 the absentee voting by millions of eligible Filipinos residing abroad.


                    [DatePublished] => 2003-04-27 00:00:00
                    [ColumnID] => 136322
                    [Focus] => 0
                    [AuthorID] => 1804858
                    [AuthorName] => Federico D. Pascual Jr.
                    [SectionName] => Opinion
                    [SectionUrl] => opinion
                    [URL] => 
                )

        )

)

abtest

MegaPacific offers to sell ACMs for ’07 polls

By Mayen Jaymalin | December 19, 2006 - 12:00am

With the use of the controversial automated counting machines definitely ruled out, the MegaPacific consortium is now offering to provide a similar technology for the coming 2007 midterm elections. Commission...

Headlines

Palace insists civil case against MegaPacific stands despite SC order

By Paolo Romero | November 3, 2006 - 12:00am

Malacañang said yesterday its civil case against MegaPacific, the firm that entered into the voided poll automation contract with the Commission on Elections (Comelec), still stands. Solicitor General...

Headlines

ACM critics linked to losing bidders

By Sandy Araneta | October 17, 2006 - 12:00am

Two staunch critics of the purchase by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) of nearly 2,000 automated counting machines (ACMs) from the MegaPacific Consortium had ties to the company that lost in the bidding...

Headlines

Borra laments being scapegoat in MegaPacific case

By James Mananghaya | July 4, 2006 - 12:00am

Commission on Elections Commissioner Resureccion Borra claims he was a "victim of circumstance" and believes he is being "singled out" for impeachment over alleged anomalies in the Comelec’s...

Headlines

Palace hopes for early Borra case resolution

By Paolo Romero | July 2, 2006 - 12:00am

Malacañang is hoping for a speedy resolution to the poll automation anomaly case involving election commissioner Resurreccion Borra and five other Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials.

Headlines

Borra, five other Comelec execs liable in ‘Mega’ deal

By Mike Frialde | July 1, 2006 - 12:00am

The Office of the Ombudsman recommended yesterday the impeachment of a ranking official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for alleged anomalies in the awarding of a contract to a private company in line with...

Headlines

Can Comelec counting machines really count?

By GOTCHA | By Jarius Bondoc | April 28, 2003 - 12:00am

Benjamin Abalos is a cautious chief of the Commission on Elections. When he couldn’t get at once the needed P1 billion to prepare for next year’s absentee voting, he said he’ll just drop it. He got...

Opinion

Half-baked automation: Recipe for poll disaster?

By POSTSCRIPT | By Federico D. Pascual Jr. | April 27, 2003 - 12:00am

THE FIRST NO-EL?: Is the Commission on Elections helping, perhaps unwittingly, to lay the basis for NoEl (No Election), or at least to set the stage for a failure of election in 2004? The Comelec has confessed its...

Opinion