EDITORIAL — Poll preparations

With just two months to go before the filing of certificates of candidacy for the 2025 midterm elections, preparations should be in full swing by now to ensure that the polls will be as clean, peaceful and glitch-free as possible. Especially since the Commission on Elections has junked voting system provider Smartmatic, for the first time since the Philippines switched to fully automated polls, and replaced it with South Korean firm Miru Systems.

Since the Comelec in November last year disqualified Smartmatic from participating in Philippine elections, the news regarding the poll body has been dominated by accusations hurled mainly by two congressmen, that Comelec Chairman George Garcia allegedly received bribes to award the 2025 poll automation contract to Miru, and that he has some P1 billion in offshore bank accounts. 

Garcia has waived the secrecy of his bank deposits to prove the accusations wrong, and has sought the help of both Philippine and US authorities to go after those behind what he describes as a demolition job against him.

Last April, the Supreme Court granted a petition filed by Smartmatic and declared that the Comelec had committed grave abuse of discretion in disqualifying the company. The SC, however, said its ruling was not sufficient to nullify the award of the automation contract to Miru.

Yesterday, the US Justice Department announced that a federal grand jury had indicted former Comelec chairman Andres Bautista and three top Smartmatic executives on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and international laundering of monetary instruments related to the 2016 general elections in the Philippines. The Smartmatic officials, according to the indictment, allegedly “caused at least $1 million in bribes” to be paid to Bautista in exchange for the Comelec’s continued use of Smartmatic as supplier of voting machines and election services.

Bautista has denied the charges, which he said were politically influenced by Philippine officials whom he did not name. Garcia, who had cited the accusations against Bautista as one of the reasons for disqualifying Smartmatic, said yesterday that he felt vindicated by the US case. He also said it would be included in the Comelec’s motion for reconsideration of the SC ruling favoring Smartmatic.

With the company now facing legal woes in the US, the Comelec can focus on preparations for the 2025 vote. New machines and election systems must be put through their paces and training must be provided to those who will supervise the midterm polls. With the strong pushback from Smartmatic over its disqualification, the Comelec’s best argument for switching to Miru is an efficient, clean and credible vote in 2025.