Comelec urged to resolve all complaints vs Smartmatic

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Loren Legarda asked the Commission on Elections yesterday to resolve nagging doubts on the ownership, capitalization and track record of Smartmatic, the foreign partner of the joint venture that bagged the commission’s poll automation contract.

“The Comelec must give due course to the complaints and not brush them aside as mere sourgraping, just because two losing bidders raised the issues,” Legarda said.

“No less than the future of our country is at stake here, so the Comelec must act with dispatch on this matter, while Smartmatic must be prompt in answering point-by-point the complaints against it,” Legarda added.

Some of the losing bidders have pointed out irregularities in the bidding process for the automated polls.

There were also criticisms that Comelec was favoring and defending the Smartmatic-Total Information Management Corp. despite snags and complaints against its machines, particularly the fact that these still could be used for vote padding and shaving.

Sequoia, a losing bidder, charged that Smartmatic had not been truthful about its eligibility claims based on its documents.

Avante, another losing bidder, also pointed out that it was treated unequally by the Comelec bids and awards panel, saying that while disqualifying Avante for not being able to submit the documents that would show its single largest contract, on account of a confidentiality clause, this same reason of confidentiality used by Smartmatic to explain its inability to produce the document was accepted by the Comelec.

Smartmatic will also be sub-contracting the manufacture of these machines to a firm in Taiwan that will then also subcontract this project to another manufacturer in Taiwan.

Earlier, Sen. Francis Escudero said the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Automated Elections would grill representatives of Smartmatic during an inquiry into the poll automation.

As this developed, stickers were sent to media people endorsing Escudero and Legarda’s tandem for president and vice president in 2010 with the message, “cheese for every table” and “green forests” donated by “Smartmatic.”

The stickers were apparently trying to show that Escudero has links with Smartmatic.

Escudero, co-chairman of the joint committee, denied any links with Smartmatic and said he was a victim of black propaganda.

Aside from Smartmatic, officials of the Comelec were also summoned to a hearing on June 23 to make sure all necessary preparations for the 2010 elections were in place.

Escudero said there were still questions that the Comelec must answer, including whether it would be ready to shift to manual counting in case there would be trouble in the machines to be used for automated polls.

Escudero said the inquiry would be made since there was already a winning bidder.

He explained the committee could not meddle into the process of choosing the most qualified bidder or it would be accused of exercising undue pressure on the Comelec.

Among the questions, Escudero said, would be the security features of the ballots and how the results from far places, especially those without signal, would be electronically transmitted.

OFW registration

In a related development, more than a hundred thousand Filipinos overseas have registered with various diplomatic posts so they could vote in 2010, based on reports received by the Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

DFA Undersecretary for Special Concerns Rafael Seguis said the DFA expects the number to increase as the deadline for overseas absentee voting registration nears. Registration for overseas Filipinos started on Feb. 1 and will end on Aug. 31 this year.

As of June 17, the number of absentee voting registrants totaled 104,475.

The top 10 countries in terms of OAV registrants are: US – 17,262; China – 11,250; United Arab Emirates – 7,297; Saudi Arabia – 5,176; Singapore – 4,577; Taiwan – 4,136; United Kingdom – 4,066; Canada – 4,009; Japan – 3,510; and Italy – 2,799.

Seguis said 27,000 Filipinos set to leave for abroad or who are here on vacation have availed of the OAV registration service at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO).

“We are calling on all Filipinos overseas and those who are about to leave the country to work abroad to register as absentee voters so they can exercise their right to vote in the 2010 presidential elections,” Seguis said.

He added that his office is in touch with different posts and have called on every embassy and consulate to intensify its campaign on absentee voting registration.

According to the OAVS, registration activities are ongoing in all 93 foreign service posts, three Manila Economic and Cultural Offices (MECO), and one Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO).  – With Pia Lee-Brago