Smartmatic warns Comelec vs getting other firms to repair PCOS

MANILA, Philippines - Smartmatic International Corp. yesterday cautioned the Commission on Elections (Comelec) against acquiring the services of another firm to refurbish the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines for the 2016 elections.

Cesar Flores, Smartmatic-Asia president, said their company has the exclusive rights over the parts needed to repair the PCOS machines.

“If you open this to other bidders, the other bidders will try to (get into) parts, which they cannot because we have exclusivity on those parts,” he explained.

He also said that only Smartmatic has the capability to handle the refurbishing project, and it will be advantageous if Comelec will award the PCOS repair project to Smartmatic instead of holding a public bidding.

“If you change the printer, for example, you have to change the source code of the PCOS machine… They will have to provide new software, which (still) has to be re-certified, which will take six months,” Flores pointed out.