4 of 7 Comelec commissioners won’t appeal VRIS case

Four officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) have formally notified a Quezon City court that they will not appeal an injunction ordering the poll body to immediately resume contract negotiations with the winning bidder of the Voter’s Registration and Identification System (VRIS) project.

In a statement submitted to Branch 215 of the Quezon City regional trial court, Commissioners Luzviminda Tancangco, Rufino Javier, Ralph Lantion and Mehol Sadain manifested their "willingness to comply with the directive of the court’s decision."

Last week, the court issued a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction, acknowledging the existence of valid contract between the poll body and Photokina for the project to automate the country’s electoral process.

The four commissioners also issued a written memorandum to the Comelec en banc reaffirming their position that there was a valid award of the VRIS contract to Photokina. They recommended that contract negotiations be resumed to secure a contract that will be beneficial and advantageous to the Comelec and the government.

"If the Commission really desires to pursue its modernization program without further delay, it should now resume negotiations with Photokina," the memo said. "Being one of the components of the Commission’s duly approved modernization program, and having gone through the bid evaluation and contract award stages without any legal issues raised against it, the VRIS project must be given its due recognition by the Commission."

The manifestation virtually threw a wet blanket on the reported claims of Comelec Chairman Alfredo Benipayo that the poll body was set to appeal the decision before a higher court.

Benipayo said the poll body would challenge the decision by Judge Ma. Luisa Quijano-Padilla and ask the Supreme Court for a reversal.

The Comelec chief would personally undertake the appeal, saying the need for an en banc resolution from the Comelec was unnecessary since the majority of commissioners would favor the resumption of negotiations with Photokina.

The Constitution, however, provides that the Comelec shall be a collegial body, whose policies and decisions shall be promulgated on the basis of a majority vote from among the seven commissioners sitting en banc.

The Administrative Code of the Philippines further specifies that the chairman of the Comelec is only empowered to implement the decisions of the Commission en banc and is mandated to refer all major issues in the body, which shall subject them to a vote of the majority.

Observers said with the manifestation of the four commissioners to the Quezon City court and their memorandum to the Comelec en banc, the formalization of the contract for the implementation of the long-delayed VRIS project is practically assured.

It is expected that questions of legality could arise from the insistence of Benipayo to ignore the commission en banc and oppose the local court’s decision on a personal basis. The Comelec chief is counting on the backing of Commissioners Florentino Tuason and Ressureccion Borra.

The P6.5-billion 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’s 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 last year 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.