Comelec urged to finalize talks on modernization deal

The consortium that won the bidding for the Voter’s Registration and Identification System (VRIS) urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to finalize the contract negotiations and pave the way for the project’s full implementation in the 2004 presidential elections.

Making their first public appearance since the 1998 bidding, officials of the Photokina VRIS Project Team said they want to prevent delays and additional costs.

At a press conference at the New World Hotel yesterday, the VRIS Project Team, made up of Photokina Marketing Corp. (PMC) Polaroid, IBM, Unisys and Sagem, said the controversies surrounding the May 14 elections clearly demonstrated the urgent need for the immediate implementation of VRIS.

PMC senior vice president George Balagtas pointed out that if negotiations are not completed by the end of June, the project would barely make it for the 2004 polls.

His projection took into consideration the requirement to capture some 65,000 pieces of data per day in a 30-month period in order to register a total 35 million voters for the electoral exercise.

Based on the consortium proposal, the VRIS project would be implemented in phases for three years with the help of more than a thousand people going to 1,610 municipalities all over the country.

Balagtas said completion of the negotiations would pave the way for pilot implementation in next year’s barangay elections.

Essentially, VRIS provides a comprehensive and integrated solution for voter registration including the development and maintenance of a secure electoral database that would serve as the foundation for clean and honest elections.

Inherent in the approach to voter database cleansing is the use of a sophisticated Automated Fingerprint Identification System technology that ensures the uniqueness of each voter record.

A secure, tamper-proof voter ID card that will serve as tangible proof of the clean voters’ list shall be issued only to duly validated registered voters.

The Photokina consortium was awarded the project following one of the most exhaustive and highly technical bidding procedures ever conducted by the Comelec. It bested the field by garnering the highest technical score and submitting the lowest price, outbidding its closest rival by more than P500 million.

Before contract negotiations could be finalized, however, the project was overtaken by events. Talks were stalled when differences between the available budget of the Comelec modernization and the funding needs of the first year of the project could not be bridged.

Also affecting the contract negotiation timetable were the sudden retirement of three Comelec Commissioners and the political developments that resulted in changes in the national leadership. Another factor that led to the postponement of contract negotiations for the VRIS project was the heavy workload of the Comelec for the May 14 elections.

Also, questions of possible overpricing were raised.

Karl MacLean, a consultant for the consortium, welcomed any investigation to be conducted by the Senate or any other government agency.

"We welcome any probe as long as it doesn’t take too long," MacLean said, reiterating the time factor. – With Pia Lee Brago