'Place Smartmatic executives on Immigration watch list'

MANILA, Philippines - Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada urged the Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday to put executives of Smartmatic on its watch list in anticipation of a failure of elections due to defective precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

Estrada said the government should put all foreign officials of Smartmatic under close watch in case they fail to deliver what is stipulated in their contract, and hold them liable for any untoward incident that may arise due to defective PCOS machines.

He also criticized the government for allowing Smartmatic to place a measly bond of P300 million for an P11.3 billion contract with the Comelec for the May 10 elections.

“We should be one step ahead in order to address all anticipated problems and for us not to be left behind should these PCOS machines malfunction,” Estrada said.

Cesar Flores, Smartmatic president for Asia Pacific, earlier admitted that not all of the PCOS machines will work perfectly on election day.

But he said voters need not worry because the officials are prepared to handle the hiccups.

He said he expects 0.3 to 0.5 percent of the PCOS units, or nearly 400 of the 82,200 PCOS machines, to be used in the electronic balloting would be replaced on election day. – Jose Rodel Clapano, Aurea Calica