Smartmatic not yet off the hook - Brillantes

MANILA, Philippines - Almost a year after the May 2010 elections, Smartmatic International Corp.-Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) is not yet off the hook for the deficiencies that occurred during the polls.

Chairman Sixto Brillantes said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has not yet paid the retention fee amounting to P300 million.

The retention fee represents five percent of the P7.2-billion cost of leasing the 82,200 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines used in last year’s elections. 

Brillantes said the Comelec is now “computing” the damages it could claim from Smartmatic-TIM for the flaws in the automated election system.

“There are (provisions in the contract) that have not been followed …We will negotiate with them. We do not want to let go of this yet. We are computing the damages,” he said.

Last year’s election was marred by errors in the configuration of the compact flash cards containing the list of voters and candidates in each precinct.

In some voting centers, the PCOS machines failed to automatically transmit the results to the canvassing centers.

The Comelec is also studying who should shoulder the P30-million cost of the portable ultraviolet lamps purchased when the UV mark readers in the PCOS machines failed to read the security marks in the ballots.

Smartmatic was not immediately available for comment. The Comelec Advisory Council and Washington-based International Foundation for Election Systems is reviewing the performance of the PCOS machines.