Charges eyed in Philippines over Smartmatic case

MANILA, Philippines —  The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is eyeing separate charges in the Philippines against those involved in the alleged bribery and money laundering case filed in the United States related to the 2016 Philippine elections.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said they will not hesitate to file a case if their ongoing investigation confirms the allegations made in the US indictment.

“The case in America, money laundering, means that US laws were violated… But what about our laws?” Garcia said in Filipino during an interview with “Storycon” on One News yesterday.

“They mentioned tax fraud, alleged rigging in bidding and jacking of prices of the machines procured by Comelec,” he added. “We need to investigate it, otherwise the current Comelec may be held accountable.”

The indictment in the US, Garcia said, already included relevant information that can serve as evidence of possible violations of Philippine laws.

“That’s why we created an 11-man panel to investigate the documents mentioned in the indictment… We are verifying if (the allegations) are true or just lies,” he added.

The Comelec chief did not provide a timeline on the ongoing investigation of the panel.

Last week, the US Department of Justice announced the indictment of former Comelec chairman Andres Bautista and three former and current executives of elections technology provider Smartmatic.

Charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and one count of substantive violation of the law were Smartmatic founder and president Roger Piñate and former Smartmatic vice president for hardware development Jorge Miguel Vasquez.

Bautista, Piñate, Vasquez and Elie Moreno – former vice president of the Smartmatic’s global services and general manager of Smartmatic Philippines – were also each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments.

Information from the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, where the federal case was filed, confirmed that Piñate and Vasquez have already surrendered and been released on bond. Bautista and Moreno have yet to appear before the court.

The indictment in the US alleged that the respondents conspired to commit bribery in relation to the 2016 elections.

“These bribes were allegedly paid to obtain and retain business related to providing voting machines and election services for the 2016 Philippine elections and to secure payments on the contracts, including the release of value added tax payments,” read a press released by the US DOJ.

“To conceal and disguise the nature and purpose of the corrupt payments, the co-conspirators used coded language to refer to the slush fund and caused the creation of fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements to justify transfers,” it added.

Smartmatic said it has already placed its two employees – Piñate and Moreno – on leave of absence “regardless of the veracity of the allegations.” Vasquez is no longer with the company.

“No voter fraud has been alleged and Smartmatic is not indicted. Voters worldwide must be assured that the elections they participate in are conducted with the utmost integrity and transparency. These are the values that Smartmatic lives by,” the election technology provider said.

Nothing irregular

In a separate statement on the issue of the release of value added tax (VAT), the company maintained that there is nothing irregular about it.

“Smartmatic’s 2015 bids factored in all applicable taxes, including VAT, and the prices in the signed contracts for the lease of 23,000 and 70,000 machines were also inclusive of all taxes,” it said.

“Despite this, Comelec later requested a VAT ruling from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and proceeded to withhold 12 percent VAT from Smartmatic’s payments. In response, Smartmatic sought a clarificatory ruling from the BIR,” it added.

Smartmatic said Comelec reimbursed Smartmatic of the excess VAT that it withheld after the BIR determined that the poll body was only entitled to withhold five percent VAT.

“This reimbursement was approved by the Comelec en banc based on the BIR ruling,” the company added.

Despite the issues surrounding the procurement of the vote count machines from Smartmatic, Garcia maintained that integrity of the elections utilizing such technology has remained unaffected.

An election lawyer before he was appointed to the Comelec, Garcia said he has not seen any instance when actual votes substantially changed following a manual recount.

“That means that the machines are accurate,” he said. “There is no problem with the integrity of the results. I can attest to that. I handled a lot of cases since 2010 when we started the automated elections,” he stressed.

Among the candidates represented by Garcia was President Marcos, who lodged an election complaint in 2016 after he lost the vice presidential race to Leni Robredo.

Marcos’ election protest was dismissed by the Supreme Court sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

Hybrid polls rejected

As controversies hound the Comelec, teachers’ group Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) is pushing for hybrid system of election in 2025, combining manual counting of votes at the precinct level with automated transmission of results.

“ACT asserts that a hybrid election system is a practical and desirable alternative to the current automated election system, which has long suffered from major transparency and accountability issues,” the group said in a press statement yesterday.

The ACT said a hybrid system of elections “would provide citizens with proof that their votes were counted and [would] enable cross-checking of canvassing results at municipal, city, and national levels.”

Furthermore, it would also “reduce election expenses by eliminating the need to rent around 100,000 machines, along with their expensive paraphernalia,” the group said. The group also proposed to limit to 200 to 250 the assigned voters at each precinct.

The ACT issued the statement following the US federal grand jury’s indictment of Bautista and three other Smartmatic executives, and the  bribery allegations supposedly involving Garcia and Miru Systems, a South Korean company contracted to supply automated counting machines (ACMs) and other paraphernalia for the 2025 elections..

The ACT said the findings of the US Justice Department only affirmed the “dubious automation process” in the Philippines “that leaves the electorate with little to no mechanism to verify if votes are counted correctly.”

But while Garcia denied the allegations, the ACT noted Miru Systems’ questionable track record.

“These [bribery] allegations raise further suspicions about Miru’s already questionable track record overseas, including controversies of repackaging prototype ballot machines pitched for Argentina’s 2016 national elections and sold to Democratic Republic of Congo for its first automated polls in December 2018, which were eventually flagged for compromised ballot secrecy, outdated software, and security vulnerabilities,” the ACT said.

“In Iraq, Miru’s machines allegedly yielded inconclusive results in the May 2018 parliamentary election, resulting in manual recount in some areas,” the ACT added.

Thus, the ACT said, the Miru-Comelec deal must still be immediately investigated.

“ACT argues that as long as the political system remains corrupt, technology in elections will merely serve as a tool for the dishonest to entrench their self-serving interests, squandering the people’s hard-earned money,” the group said.

The ACT also reiterated its call for an increase in payment or honoraria for teachers who are serving as poll workers during elections. The ACT said the honoraria must also be exempted from tax.

The group called for “additional compensation for extended poll work hours, and measures for safety, protection, and good working conditions for poll workers during elections.”

Erice faces complaint before Comelec

Meanwhile, the Comelec has slapped former Caloocan congressman Edgar Erice with criminal charges for reportedly spreading lies against the poll body.

Two concerned citizens, Angelo Balatbat and Raymond Salipot, filed a joint complaint of election offense against Erice before the Comelec.

Richard Rosales, legal counsel of the two complainants, stressed that technology provider Miru Systems and Comelec Chairman Garcia have nothing to do with the complaint.

“What we want to happen is for the Comelec to study if there is basis for the charges. If the Comelec finds probable cause, then it should file cases in court,” Rosales told reporters.

Rosales said the Comelec should conduct preliminary investigation on Erice for violation of the Omnibus Election Code. Being an election offense, the complaint was filed before the commission.

The complainants, in their 16-page petition, said they initiated criminal action against Erice to “protect the integrity of our democratic institutions.”

There was a clear intent, the complainants said, on the part of Erice to discredit the Comelec without offering constructive criticism.

According to the complainants, Erice caused unnecessary fear and uncertainty about the May 2025 elections by suggesting that the Philippine elections are being used as a testing ground for unproven machines.

“The accusations are particularly harmful as they imply that Comelec is irresponsibly experimenting with untested technology, thus jeopardizing the electoral process,” they pointed out.

They also noted that Erice’s alarmist statements contributed to public confusion that could lead to a low turnout of voters in next year’s polls.

The complainants stressed that Erice failed to establish with credible proof his accusations against the commission.

“Erice’s statements and actions reveal a clear and deliberate intention to spread misinformation and disrupt the election process,” they added.-  Elizabeth Marcelo, Mayen Jaymalin