automated electionHeadlines in most radio and television news programs and in major newspapers today are telling us that the Automation or Computerization of 2010 Philippine National Elections is in jeopardy because of the pulling-out of the joint venture of Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) with Smartmatic Corporation of Netherlands.

TIM’s pulling-out angered COMELEC Chairman Melo, who vowed not to let TIM go without any penalty. Melo said in an interview “We will do everything to sanction them. You are not supposed to join a bidding and then after you won, you withdraw. We are a constitutional body and we cannot be toyed around with.”

Chairman Melo added that TIM president Jose Antuñez came to his office yesterday afternoon to inform him that “they are withdrawing from the project, citing irreconcilable differences” with Smartmatic Corp.

“I told them that they were putting their personal interests above something that is of national importance,” Melo said with frustration seen in his face. But he said that although the likelihood of conducting the 2010 local and national polls manually is greater now, they are still not losing hope.

“We will study if it’s legally acceptable for the Comelec to tie up with Smartmatic in doing the automation.”

There is also the possibility that Comelec will reconsider the bids of the six disqualified bidders because under the bidding law, Smartmatic cannot replace TIM as its Filipino counterpart since they are the ones that have partnered during the bidding process.

Smartmatic officials were surprised of this development because they do not have any inkling of TIM’s withdrawal. Smartmatic are in the process of negotiating the automation contract with the Comelec’s Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) when this happened.

“We worked very hard in the bid process, in the joint venture agreement and during the whole process. We received the notice of award together. We had a partner an hour ago. We were waiting for them to honor their commitment,” said Smartmatic International Sales Director Cesar Flores. He added that Smartmatic is still “prepared and committed to the automation of the 2010 elections.”

SBAC head Ferdinand Rafanan said TIM could be administratively liable under Rule 13 of Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Act for the sudden withdrawal. Rafanan added that under the law, the Comelec could forfeit the P350-million performance security bond of TIM and ban the firm from joining any of its bidding process for one year.

Meanwhile Chairman Melo had given the consortium until Friday to submit their incorporation papers. He warned them that failure to submit the documents could lead to the cancellation of the automation contract, and they could face up to 15 years’ imprisonment under the procurement law.

With this development, some Senators particulary Senators Francis Escudero and Richard Gordon said they would likely look into the possible cancellation of the poll automation due to the decision of TIM to withdraw from the project.

They also called on the Comelec to explore other options under the law requiring automated polls to make sure the 2010 general elections would be clean, honest and credible.

Senator Chiz Escudero, co-chairman of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Automated Election System, said he would wait “until we know the real reason behind the decision of the Comelec” before conducting an inquiry.

“I will show it to the people. I might call for a hearing,” Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, said.

“The (Comelec) has a mandate. This will open Pandora’s box if (poll automation does not push through). It will show that they really have no intention to push through with this and maybe some are following the administration’s plan to stop this,” Gordon added.

Both Sen. Chiz Escudero and Sen. Richard Gordon are possible candidates for President in the coming national elections.

There are rumors circulating in the past few days that some powerful and influential people who are against automation, are pressuring Comelec officials to not continue the project so that manual counting shall happen because it is the easiest way to manipulate the outcome.

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