Comelec supplier eyes compromise

The Mega Pacific eSolutions Consortium (MPC) is still open to a compromise agreement with the government regarding the scrapped P1.03-billion contract to automate the May 10 general elections.

At yesterday’s Kapihan sa Sulo forum, MPC lawyer Alfredo Lazaro said the consortium does not owe the government, adding that the Supreme Court scrapped the automated poll project because of the negligence of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

According to Lazaro, MPC "only participated and it just turned out that we were selected (to undertake the poll automation), so why punish us?"

Lazaro said the government can still make use of the automated counting machines for other elections, such as cityhood plebiscites. He added that the ACMs cannot be used for other purposes.

"Another company which lost in the bidding would have billed the government P3 billion just for renting their machines," he added.

The MPC has filed a P200-million damage suit before the Makati City regional trial court against the government over the cancellation of the contract.

"As far as the MPC is concerned, we believe that we have delivered," Lazaro said.

The Supreme Court last month voided with finality the P1.03-billion automated counting and vote canvassing contract, which the Comelec had awarded to the MPC.

The high court also ordered the government to recover the money it paid the firm.

President Arroyo earlier ordered the Comelec to account for the P1.03 billion it paid for the botched contract with MPC.

The President said the Comelec should initiate liquidation procedures to recover the money it paid MPC after the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) reported difficulty in locating the firm and Lazaro denied claims MPC had closed shop to evade responsibility for the botched deal.

The money paid by the Comelec to MPC for the ACMs constitute public funds, the President said, adding that these funds require full accounting and auditing by the government.

Lazaro also said the government should hold up its end of the bargain by returning the 1,991 ACMs delivered by the MPC.

The ACMs, he said, were" custom-made based on Comelec specifications. Hence we should not be made to suffer financially."

He also said that "since the government is not capable of restoring the machines in (their) virgin state, the demand for a refund is off-line."

The MPC also wants the machines returned in their original state, Lazaro added.