Lack of delicadeza

It leaves a bad taste in the mouth everytime former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Augusto Lagman accuses Comelec and his former colleagues of irregularities.

After all, Lagman cannot seem to back up his allegations to discredit the country’s shift to automated elections using the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines supplied by Smartmatic-Tim.

Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. seems to have had it when it comes to Lagman’s tirades, as the Comelec chief noted that Lagman has flaunted luxurious lifestyle and amassed questionable wealth since he was ousted from Comelec.

Lagman, head of the so-called Automated Election System Watch Center (AES-Watch), has criticized Comelec’s deals with Smartmatic-TIM which provided the PCOS machines used in the successful 2010 and 2013 elections.

Lagman’s group again challenged Comelec’s decision to avail of Smartmatic’s offer to refurbish the machines for the May 9, 2016 national and local elections, branding it as a midnight deal.

However, Brillantes  said this is all just part of an orchestrated move by the same group, Comelec’s regular detractor which is the AES Watch, to discredit and create confusion before the 2016 elections.

Brillantes also slammed Lagman for complaining too much to media, saying the latter has even resorted to personal attacks to peddle his hidden agenda.

“I will sit down and sign contracts for as long as I am still the incumbent chairman. Namemersonal na yang si Lagman. Tingnan natin ang lifestyle ng bawat isa. Imbistigahan natin kung sino ang may bagong condominiums,” Brillantes said.

For their relentless black propaganda against Smartmatic and PCOS, some of these Comelec bashers have allegedly been rewarded with huge payoffs, including condominiums and brand new cars.

Critics believe that some of these poll watchdogs are fronts for rival firms or groups which are desperately trying to bag Comelec contracts while posing as crusaders for clean and honest elections.

Speaking to ANC’s Headstart, Brillantes challenged the ousted poll commissioner to prove his allegations that the PCOS machines from Smartmatic are easily rigged.

Brillantes said it is unethical for Lagman to criticize Comelec since the latter is a former member of the poll body.

“I have never responded much to what he is saying because he was ousted from Comelec when he was not reappointed, pero ethics demand na kung galing ka na dun sa commission, hindi mo na tinitira,” he said.

The poll chief said that instead of attacking Comelec publicly, Lagman should just show up at the poll body’s office and show how the rigging could be done.

“You can always come back to the Commission and explain your own position. Hindi eh. Siya, he goes to public hearings and attacks the Commission on Elections. Former commissioner ka e. Siguro ethics will demand instead of attacking us publicly, come to us and explain and we will listen to you and we will show you respect,” he said.

“He was in the Comelec for 10 months. He never said this. He never mentioned PCOS machines being rigged, which could be easily rigged, that is the adjective there. He did say you can probably manipulate it, but not easily. Now he is saying it is very easy and I dare him to show it to us. If he really wants to help the Filipino people, then show it to us so we can prepare for 2016. If it is easily rigged, it is his obligation and it is his duty to come to us and show it to us.”

Previously, Brillantes challenged Lagman to a debate after the latter said in radio interviews that the absence of a source code that could be reviewed by political parties and interested groups would cast doubt on the results of the automated elections.

The problem is that the other parties interested to bid for contracts relating to the 2016 elections cannot seem to come up with qualifying bids.

Indra Sistemas was declared ineligible by Comelec for the P2-billion contract to supply an additional 23,000 units of Optical Mark Reader (OMR) machines for the 2016 polls to supply the existing PCOS machines.

It was shown that Indra Sistema’s single largest contract, the 2013 Argentine polls project, did not meet the requirements to qualify the company to bid for the contract.

This was pointed out by Smartmatic, the lone other bidder declared eligible by the Comelec Bids and Awards Committee (BAC).

 Lawyer Ruby Rose Yusi, lead counsel for Smartmatic which was declared eligible to bid by the Comelec Bids and Award Committee (there are only two bidders), pointed out that Indra’s Argentina project did not use any OMR or optical scan systems.

Indra cited as its “single largest contract” the telegraph transmission, processing and broadcast of the provisional count in the 2013 parliamentary elections in Argentina.

It turns out that the whole thing was conducted manually and was an unofficial quick count. According to Yusi, the votes were cast and counted manually, and later, a copy of the results was sent via telegram to a number of locations nationwide, where the votes were encoded into computers, to produce a non-binding, un-official quick count of the results.

To be eligible, the Comelec BAC requires that “the bidder must have completed within six years prior to the deadline for the submission and opening bids, including contracts awarded, but not yet started, if any, a single contract with a value of 50 percent of the ABC.”

Yusi said Indra does not have any contract for precinct-based OMR in the last 10 years that complies with the 50 percent of the ABC of the OMR project.

 For comments, suggestions, observations, e-mail at [email protected].